Joey Janela talks about creative freedom and his endgame for a working relationship between GCW and All Elite Wrestling.
Joey Janela was one of the first names signed to AEW. In the early days of the promotion, he had featured matches against the likes of Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley. Today, Joey is largely featured on the promotion’s YouTube programming, Dark and Dark: Elevation, but he still loves the creative freedom that he is given in the promotion.
Joey, in an interview with Sean Ross Sapp that took place during AEW All Out weekend in 2021, said that creative freedom in AEW isn't just exclusive to talent pitching angle ideas, it can mean that you can write an entire story for yourself.
“It’s awesome because I’ve kind of orchestrated this whole thing to a T. It’s all me,” Joey said of his angle where he turned on Sonny Kiss. “It’s like, ‘Alright, just let us know where you want to go with this. Let us know the points.’ When people say that you have creative freedom in AEW, it doesn’t mean you have input. It means you can write an entire storyline and just give it to them and they say, ‘Yeah.’
“It feels great. Because I think one of my biggest aspects, in my brain for the professional wrestling business is thinking and being creative. It’s been great. Ever since I’ve come back from injury in AEW, I’m motivated now, getting back in shape and I’m rolling with the punches as they say. I’m just trying to maybe actually get over for once.”
Talking about Game Changer Wrestling, a promotion that he's arguably more synonymous with than AEW, Joey Janela spoke about being astonished by the growth. Janela also spoke about how overwhelmed Jon Moxley is with the GCW environment. This interview took place on the same weekend that Jon Moxley became GCW World Champion.
“I’ve put my body on the line for those three letters over the last four years and just to hear a GCW chant from, maybe, 8,000 people—they all came with it. It was wild. Brett was in the crowd tonight. I got a text, ‘Wow, man.’ It’s something else. It feels good. Even Mox afterwards was like, ‘Dude, thank you for everything.’ He was like, ‘Can you hear the chant? Can you hear the GCW chant?’ I was like, ‘I heard it, man. That’s really something.’ I think we’ve transcended independent wrestling. I think we still are independent wrestling, our heart is independent wrestling, but I think we’re on a different tier now and it’s not a tier that any other promotion is on. We’re on our own tier. Some people like Game Changer Wrestling, some people hate it because deathmatch wrestling, hardcore wrestling is our bread and butter.”
Joey continued, “But we cater to all people and I feel like 2022, I’ve been saying it for years—I don’t know if I said it in an interview with you—I said that, ‘We’re gonna get a 10,000 seat or bigger arena.’ I said, ‘In the next couple of years, I think the time is coming.’ I just want to build a bridge between Tony and Brett.”
Elaborating on that statement, Joey Janela says that even though he likes the way that The Nightmare Factory is developing talent, Joey sees GCW’s crew of independent superstars, as excellent talent that can be used on AEW Dark and in other enhancement positions while also getting an opportunity to become stars on a greater level themselves.
“With GCW I want to build a bridge between Tony and Brett. We have, obviously, the Nightmare factory is obviously a great training facility and they’re developing talent so fast. Like, Kayla, who is gonna be my heater/valet. I’m not gonna call her a valet to her face ‘cause she’ll probably choke me to death. But they’re developing talent so fast and I want to be that independent bridge. When I see good independent talent I can just say, ‘Tony, listen. Give this guy a chance. Give this guy a six-minute match on Dark and let ‘em shine up.’ That’s hopefully what I’m trying to achieve and 2022 is looking pretty sweet right now.”
2022 is starting off very hot for GCW. The promotion ran the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City for the first time.
