Joey Janela Talks His Controversial Tweets On His AEW Status, Why Match With Kenny Omega Happened
Joey Janela is just 30 years old but he, at times, wonders if his best as a wrestler is behind him. He sent out a tweet last year in which he said he felt he's losing momentum and Janela discussed his thinking when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily.
"I just did it, shoot. I didn't ask permission. After I put up the tweet I got a call [laughs]," revealed Janela. "Really, I don't give a sh*t. The reason why I've gotten as far as I have is that you don't know what's real and what's fake when it comes to me on social media. You don't know if I'm shooting or not shooting. A lot of the stuff I've done in my wrestling career, guys like Jim Cornette would call absolute cosplay bullsh**."
Janela mentioned wrestling The Invisible Men and other crazy things as the BS that Cornette was referring to.
"I'm completely on one side of the spectrum but also at the same time on the other side of the spectrum. So, you don't know what you're gonna get with me. I just know how to gain interest and it's worked out pretty positively for me," said Janela.
Janela is known for his hardcore style, but on a recent Dynamite episode he got to wrestle Kenny Omega in a straight wrestling match. He talked about what he wanted to show everyone by doing that.
"It was great. I just wanted to show everyone that I could go. That match almost didn't happen so for them to let it happen was a big deal for me. Some of my friends from home came up to watch it so maybe my career peaked at that point [laughs]," joked Janela.
He then revealed that the match was originally supposed to be him versus Jack Evans instead.
"Where the segment was ? me and Jack Evans never wrestled on TV. That would have been his and my TV debut and they didn't want to put us out there cold. I said, 'Well, you advertised the match already.' They said, 'We're just gonna put Jack in there with Kenny.' I was depressed as I was just coming off the big match with Kenny the week before. I felt like things were going right and I really wanted to have that match with Jack Evans on TV. 15 years in the making ? I needed that moment," said Janela.
He added that Tony then told him about Jack wrestling Kenny and Janela said he got really upset about it. They then changed it so that he'd wrestle Kenny and he thinks it all worked out.
Janela has never shied away from being outspoken whether through interviews or on social media. He recently tweeted that wrestlers shouldn't sign sh**ty contracts and he expanded on that statement.
"I'm talking about five-year deals for $125 a show. That's taking advantage of people as I know in 3-5 years that other opportunities will come around. They will regret ever signing that deal in the first place," stated Janela who then questioned how much exposure these talents get from TV shows with not much viewership. He says there is more exposure if they wrestle for GCW on FITE.
"[GCW] has been hitting complete stride and FITE is amazed at the buy rates on the GCW shows. I'm not saying it's doing AEW numbers, but from where we came from and who we are? They were at first like, 'Who the f*ck are these guys?' Now they're just getting bigger and bigger month by month."
A compilation PPV about Janela has become available without his involvement or consent. He talked about its origins.
"Steve O'Neil, a guy who bought a bunch sh*t and bought CZW apparently owns the rights to the footage. So, they're putting out compilations of guys that have made it to TV and putting it out on PPV," said Janela.
He added that he gets none of the revenue from them and he's trying to find out if he can "sue the motherf*****s."
"There's one about The Bucks too and one about Kevin Steen [Kevin Owens]. They're all rotating those. I can't do much about it but it is what it is," said Janela. "There's a 55-minute PPV special of Before They Were Stars ? Joey Janela out there?f*ck it."
Janela's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon: by clicking here. The full interview can be heard via the embedded audio player below: