After weeks of teases, Brody King arrived in AEW on the January 12 episode of AEW Dynamite, aligning with Malakai Black.
King became a free agent after ROH announced its hiatus at the end of 2021. Along with working for ROH, King had become a regular for NJPW STRONG.
Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho, King discussed how his AEW deal came together.
"Persistence, I guess," said King when asked how he ended up in AEW. "I met Tony a few years ago, he knew who I was and I feel like cutting my teeth in Ring of Honor and meeting the Bucks and a couple of other people, all these pieces fell into place. With Malakai joining, it was kind of a perfect fit. He pitched the idea to Tony and Tony liked it a lot. I talked to him when we all got released from Ring of Honor. I messaged him and he was like, 'let's try to catch up sometime.' 'I can be anywhere within a few hours.' 'Why don't you come out to Indianapolis and Minneapolis.' I flew myself out there, we talked, here I am now."
King continued, discussing his admiration for AEW President Tony Khan and the AEW locker room.
"He's an incredibly kind person too. Knowing what he's involved with on a day-to-day basis between wrestling, football, soccer. My head would explode. The fact that he has two minutes to talk to another human is crazy. It's been a really awesome experience. Everyone here is awesome and cool and welcoming. Every where you turn, there is someone you can learn from. [Jericho], Dean Malenko, Big Show, Mark Henry. Anywhere, you can go to someone and get a different piece of advice or opinion. That's what I want the most. When I come out of a match, I don't want to know what I did good, I want to know what I did bad or what I could do better," he said.
King made his in-ring debut on the January 19 episode of AEW Dynamite, teaming with Black to defeat the Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr & Griff Garrison).
Asked about his goals in AEW, King said, "With House of Black, we have something different to offer. I don't want to compare it to anything directly, but it has a very Ministry of Darkness aura and that was something that latched onto me as a kid. Watching all these crazy people...crucifying Stone Cold. That was stuff that grabbed me as a kid. To be able to put our spin on that and be a darker element of wrestling that I feel has been missing for quite some time has been awesome. There is a lot to work with, a lot to grow with. I think Malakai is one of the best wrestlers on the planet so being able to learn and grow and team with him, I feel our chemistry works well, our styles are different, but they work in unison."
On February 2, King & Black would defeat PAC & Penta El Zero M.
Elsewhere during the conversation, Chris Jericho noted that there was a plan for him to be on the ROH-NJPW G1 Supercard at MSG, but he was asked not to do it. You can find his comments by clicking here.
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