Colt Cabana Opens Up About His Part In Changing The Culture Of Wrestling

AEW's Colt Cabana recently spoke with the Into The Danger Zone podcast where he talked about his impact on changing wrestling culture. The Dark Order member believes culture was altered for the better due to wrestlers selling merchandise.

"When I'm on independent shows and I get there and there's no table space for me, I'll just be like, 'man, this is so wild.' Not that I was the inventor, but a group of my friends, like me and M Dog, and Chris Hero would be like, 'have table space for us. We're selling merch, nobody else is doing anything,'" he said. "Now there's tables with like 75 wrestlers lined up across. I had a part in a change in the culture of wrestling, and for better or for worse, whatever. I think for better."

Colt Cabana also chatted about the rise of Pro Wrestling Tees. He admitted that Ryan was willing to take a risk and put money down on things before the website had even begun making any profit.

"I had a lot of t-shirt people beforehand, then we found Ryan," he said. And Ryan, he was like, 'oh the business is growing, I am going to buy six more machines.' That's how it worked. He's just like, 'oh, you, and The Bucks, and Adam Pearce are all getting shirts. Imagine if I could do this whole thing for you and I get a little cut. And you get a big cut and we do it all over the internet and I build a whole thing.'

"Very early when there's no money coming in, he spent $20,000 to build whatever Pro Wrestling Tees was. That's not an exact number, but it's just crazy to have that foresight and forethinking," he said. "Together, it all kind of grew. I had that hustle mentality and that foresight to see a little larger than trying to get a polaroid from one person in the ring. But Ryan saw even bigger, which is cool."

In AEW, talents are able to do things outside of the company such as have Twitch channels. Colt Cabana admitted that the motto is to not be an idiot. However, he thinks Tony Khan has a good grip on things to stop that from happening.

"Yeah, don't be an idiot, I think is very important," he said. "I think Tony has a good grasp on who he is hiring. You try not to hire the idiots who will do stuff like that. You know, wrestling has a history of ruining it for the others. And so I think a lot of us in the locker room are just hoping that nobody is ruining things for the others.

"That doesn't seem to be the case," Cabana added. "Also, Tony loves wrestling so much, and he has his ear to the ground and always has. I think probably more now than ever. So, he knows how important the scene is and to stay a part of it."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Into The Danger Zone with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.