Joey Janela Says AEW PPVs Blow WrestleMania Away; Talks Marko Stunt Getting Hate, Jim Cornette

For the past few weeks Joey Janela has been engaged in a feud with Shawn Spears that culminated at Full Gear. But before that match, we caught up with Janela where he talked about his new look when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.

"Every so often a wrestler has to evolve into a new look and my current look is what's his name from Forrest Gump?Lt. Dan. I just like to look weird," said Janela.

Janela came up short in his match vs. Spears at Full Gear but he talked about the magnitude of AEW pay-per-views and why WrestleMania pales in comparison.

"All the PPVs are like WrestleMania. All of the AEW PPVs blow WrestleMania away from the last couple of years," stated Janela. "WrestleMania is still a spectacle but it just doesn't feel special anymore."

Janela made a name for himself by taking part in lots of hardcore and extreme matches. But he's started to move away from those types of "car crash matches" as he's called them and he explained why.

"I kinda complained that I didn't want to be pigeonholed into the hardcore stuff. On the indies I would do the hardcore stuff and I excel at that of course, but I only want it for blowoff matches and the ends of storylines," revealed Janela. "Sometimes it was just people wanting to see me in these car accident matches which was fine. But I'm older now, I'm 30 years old and my body is not what it used to be even though I am feeling great. Those car crash matches take years off your career. I just wanna show everyone and prove the haters wrong by showing that I'm not just that and I'm multi-versatile with wrestling styles."

The conversation then shifted towards fellow AEW performer Marko Stunt and Janela was asked if the heat he gets is unwarranted.

"Unwarranted completely. Kids love it. Everyone's gonna realize that once things start really picking up in AEW and you see Marko on a kid's show on Nickelodeon and he's making more money than these haters on the internet who work at Subway, they're gonna realize that they were wrong and they're gonna bring it with them to the grave," stated Janela.

"But Marko, Jungle [Boy] and Luchasaurus, that has Nickelodeon written all over it."

Janela received heat of his own from Jim Cornette recently based on his physique and wrestling style. Janela threw some shots back at Cornette and then mocked him by dressing up as Cornette for Halloween.

He talked about the reaction he's gotten from Cornette's followers for his Cornette costume.

"They are losing their minds. A lot of wrestlers from the past have issues with Jim and people are legit losing their minds because I'm making them so angry. He's living in my head rent free is what he said but these guys are so stupid," stated Janela.

He brought up that internet fans call him unsafe when he's never injured anyone before. He also hits back at the sentiment that he's untrained because of his extreme, death match background.

"I went to many schools and I have a bigger seminar and camp list than any wrestler on the independents, maybe any wrestler ever," stated Janela. :I've done more with the who's who of wrestling and I'm perfectly trained and capable of protecting somebody and my track record speaks for itself. So f*ck you Jim Cornette? Hopefully one day, Jim, I can join the other wrestlers in the hot tub while you sit down with?I'm not gonna even go there.

"Banana Boy! Banana B*tch Boy! You've got me riled up. The OVW jacuzzi days, I know about that Jim. The OVW jacuzzi days with the banana boy."

Janela's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of today's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post, or viewed via the video player at the top. In the full interview Janela discusses his new look, wrestling Shawn Spears at Full Gear, moving away from "car crash matches", Marko Stunt haters, his "feud" with Jim Cornette and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.