Brian Pillman Jr. has the opportunity of a lifetime this week, as he faces Miro for the TNT Championship on AEW Dynamite.
The Varsity Blonds went from unsigned, to AEW Dark, to AEW Dynamite regulars to title challengers. In speaking with Fightful, Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison said the road there has involved them going their own route more often than not.
Pillman said "Going into pitching the Varsity Blonds, I didn’t—actually, I asked two people and I won’t name them. I will not name these people. I asked two people in AEW, that are very prominent figures, what they thought about the name Varsity Blonds. They both relatively said the same thing. ‘Oh, that’s stupid. You’re wrestlers. You’re not football players.’ I said, ‘You know what? Fuck it. I’m pitching it anyways.’ Then here we are."
Here they are, with Julia Hart by their side, as well. They seem pretty happy about that.
Garrison started, "She’s been great. She fit right in. She came and just literally done her part in the group. Just fit the role so perfectly. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better. We literally got our jackets made, I think the same time she debuted with us."
Pillman followed, saying, "Yeah, she just fell into our pockets. It’s like someone dropped a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Just landed right in the locker room. We order these jackets. It takes months to make a real custom leather varsity, high school jacket. So, I ordered them several months ago. The guy’s like, ‘Oh, we got the fabric and everything’s coming in. They’re gonna be ready this week,’ when we’re in Florida taping. Like, that taping she showed up for extra work. It might have been her second week."
Much like the name the Varsity Blonds name itself, Pillman said that he pitched the idea of Julia Hart joining the duo. When AEW saw that the idea would work, they ran with it, leading to the success we see now.
Pillman said, "I went over and was like, ‘Well, shit. She’s already wearing blue. She’s already blonde. She’s actually former two time national champion cheerleader,’ and I went up to Cody and was like, ‘Look, we get we just got these new jackets, alright? We’re not asking for pyro or anything crazy. But, can we get this girl to do a couple round-offs coming back in, just for our entrance. We don’t have to have her in the match. Just for the entrance.’ Then, ‘Okay, that sounds like a great idea.’ Next thing you know, we got people helping us choreograph an entrance. We got people agenting our match, helping us incorporate her into the team. All of a sudden this collaborative effort—which is what’s so great about AEW—is that when people see something, they see a spark, they don’t want to go put out for fear of other people succeeding. They want to ignite that fire. They want to add something to the ember, to the flame. That’s what happened. Our agents and our coaches got together, helped us put this together. ‘Cause all I had was a little idea. I didn’t know how it was going to look in the end. But, that’s what our veterans are here to do, to help us put it all together."
You can see our full interview with the Varsity Blonds at the top of the page, and can see them every week on AEW programming. This Wednesday at 8 PM EST, Pillman takes on Miro for the TNT Championship on AEW Dynamite.
