Before Brian Cage made his AEW debut in the Casino Ladder Match at AEW Double or Nothing 2020, Cage was set to debut in the Casino Battle Royale at AEW Double or Nothing 2019.
Cage was the IMPACT World Champion at the time and IMPACT didn't want their World Champion losing on the show.
Speaking on Dynamite Download, Cage recalled his canceled Double or Nothing 2019 appearance.
"I was part of All In and I loved that," he said when recalling the origin of AEW's interest. "I was talking to Cody and the Bucks, and even Kenny, I get along with all of them really well, I think Kenny and Nick are my two bigger fans. Needless to say, they were talking to me about doing something for Double or Nothing. I was IMPACT World Champion, but I was out because I hurt my back and was out six weeks, but I was pretty much good to go for Double or Nothing. I was a super surprise, nobody knew, not even the people in the battle royal. Cody is like, 'Hey, I don't want to insult you and put you in the battle royal. It'll be for the number one contendership, so it's a good battle royal, but we can't have any of our signed talent go under you, but we don't want anybody to beat you, so in a battle royal, if you don't win, you're not losing.' I was fine with that as a compromise. It was super hot and everyone was excited and nobody knew, even the people in the match. They were going to put me over huge, I was eliminating a good amount of everyone, and it was going to come down to me and Page because he was the Joker."
Cage continued, discussing IMPACT's reaction to the idea.
"Once IMPACT found out I was losing, they pulled me from the pay-per-view," he said. "I was so hot and arguing with them, so were Kenny and Jericho, who was with Don. It's funny because fast forward and now Don is with AEW. I've brought that up plenty of times. Maybe not even two hours before the match, I got pulled off the show. I was going to do it anyways because they were threatening to sue me. Technically, from how it was worded in my contract and because I was technically still under an El Rey contract with Lucha Underground -- that's how Fenix and Pentagon were able to compete -- I was like, 'Okay, if they actually take me to court, I'm going to win.' Billy Gunn and Tommy Dreamer pulled me aside and said, 'Regardless of what's in your contract, if I were you, I would not do this match. I know it sucks, but if you go through with this, they're going to pull you and AEW into court, even if you don't lose, you have to spend money in court. you're going to make IMPACT and AEW spend time and money in court, and now you'll have two major companies have heat with you. You're too good of a talent to be left in the middle of all that. I know it sucked, but bite the bullet, don't do the show, and move on.' I did that, I was apologetic. Tony was cool about it and everyone was apologetic to me."
Cage lost the IMPACT World Title on the October 29, 2019 episode of IMPACT Wrestling and left IMPACT following Hard to Kill 2020.
Elsewhere during the interview, Cage revealed it was pitched to IMPACT to do a Cage vs. Hangman Page match, but the idea never came to fruition. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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