Joey Janela Responds To Criticisms Of Flaming Superkick Spot In GCW

Joey Janela chose to play with fire and it didn't quite turn out how he hoped.

Joey Janela has been known to compete in deathmatches in the past in Game Changer Wrestling. During Janela's violent and brutal main event on GCW's "Maniac" event at the Ukrainian Culture Center in Los Angeles, California, where he took on Drew Parker, Janela decided to try something different and light his boot on fire to hit Parker with a flaming superkick.

This was not the original plan, however, and in an interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Janela explained why he chose to attempt the dangerous move.

"We agreed we were going to do glass, but the day of the show, they couldn't find glass," Janela said. "... I just came up with this idea, I said, 'What if I light my foot on fire and give you a superkick?' Just like, playing with ideas. He goes, 'That sounds cool', ... So I go to Brett {Lauderdale, owner of GCW}, I go "Brett, I'm going to light my foot on fire and give Drew a superkick'. He thought I was just bullsh*tting."

Janela landed the flaming superkick successfully, however, after the superkick connected, the boot remained on fire. Multiple different staff members had water bottles and were trying to put out the fire, which, according to Janela, was the original plan. Many criticized and questioned Janela for not receiving help via fire extinguisher. Janela explained why he chose to take the path of water.

"I didn't want a fire extinguisher," Janela revealed. "Usually, a fire extinguisher, it's kind of pointless. Usually, you put water on the fire and it goes out. That's what people don't get. The last thing I want is some f*cking guy coming, spraying a fire extinguisher at me and me breaking out in a rash and my eyes swelling up for f*cking four days."

Besides a sore foot at the time, Janela is completely okay after the incident and his next GCW match is scheduled on June 18th against 72-year-old Mike Jackson at GCW "You Wouldn't Understand."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.