Harley Cameron Initially Had Plans To Go To WWE Before AEW Came Calling
Before Harley Cameron became a member of AEW's QTV stable, she was on track to join their rival company, WWE.
While Cameron was primarily focused on her music projects at the time, her energy eventually blended with her aspirations to pursue professional wrestling. On "Talk is Jericho," the Australian performer noted that she had formed solid friendships with current WWE Superstars Shotzi and Scarlett, who, in turn, taught her more about the wrestling business. When Cameron began dabbling in the sport, she caught the eye of WWE. As Cameron attests, her plans to sign with WWE were later squashed due to some unfortunate circumstances.
"I can just say that there was plans for me to go to another company (WWE), and then that company decided to release a lot of people who were all involved in the process," Cameron explained. "But thanks to them, I learned how to wrestle and I ended up getting my green card. So, thanks, guys. You missed the boat."
Joining QTV
Since Cameron moved to the United States from Australia, she needed to obtain a green card in order to be compensated for her wrestling work. The process to secure one was rather slow though, which prompted Cameron to work for free for many months. Despite the financial setback, Cameron was eager to continue her training at Flatbacks Wrestling School and get more reps in the ring.
Cameron's persistence paid off, as she was offered an opportunity to appear on "AEW Dark" in a match against Willow Nightingale in July 2022. Following that appearance, Cameron was invited back to AEW in December. In the months that followed, Cameron was elevated to full-time status in All Elite Wrestling as she was introduced as a member of QTV alongside Q.T. Marshall, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Aaron Solo.
Before QTV was officially launched, AEW President Tony Khan wanted to incorporate a female talent that was open to wrestling in addition to appearing in QTV's segments. With this idea in mind, Marshall suggested Cameron fill the position.
QT Marshall's Pitch
"Tony was like, 'I really want someone else that will wrestle because we can do mixed tags,' and this, that, and the other," Marshall told "Talk Is Jericho." "And I said to Tony, 'Hey, what about Harley? Do you think we could put her on a weekly [contract]?' Because she's coming every week, I know she's giving up another thing because there was maybe a performance, maybe WrestleMania, like a lot of big stuff. She's taking a chance on us.'"
"And he goes, 'Yeah, besides the 'Dark' stuff, I just haven't really seen her wrestle and then we don't use her.' I said, 'Well, Tony, she wants to wrestle. She'll wrestle on the house show next week. She can't wrestle on the house shows because I've been telling her she can't because we have to pay her, and the house shows are where we're using salaried people for.' So it was just one of those miscommunications and he was like, 'Okay.' And I was like, 'Oh, okay. This is great.'"
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Talk Is Jericho" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.