Colt Cabana is one of the most respected independent wrestlers in history, having traveled across the world and boosted his own profile through merchandise sales and podcasting.
Cabana is often credited for changing the way independent wrestlers market themselves and being an independent wrestler, Cabana was able to show up at any show he wanted.
That's why it confused him when independent wrestlers were trying to make contracts a thing.
"When Tony did this Forbidden Door thing, I just loved how it changed everyone's thought process about wrestling," Cabana said on Into The Danger Zone with Chris Denker. "I was around when they started doing these contracts in Independent wrestling, which was mind blowing to me. I was always very against it. 'How are you going to contract me when you're not even paying me minimum wage of what a minimum wage worker is? What is the point?' I feel WWE and the idea of wrestling made everyone think 'this is how it has to be, no one can go out.' I'm such a romantic for the old territory times where Dusty [Rhodes] is doing Florida, but he shows up in New York. Bruno [Sammartino] shows up in Australia. It's so cool. It really took for Tony to be like, 'yeah, that's cool.' Now, our wrestling mindsets are allowed to change a little bit. It's not hurting anyone involved in the Forbidden Door. It's only good."
AEW has worked with multiple independent promotions and other companies such as NWA, ROH, IMPACT Wrestling, and NJPW over the past year.
Elsewhere during the interview, Cabana discussed how he's helping with producing in AEW. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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