Grado discusses how AEW All In appearance came together.
While Jeff Jarrett was making the media rounds ahead of AEW All In, he hit Grado with a guitar during a TalkSPORT interview. The clip went viral and many thought it would lead to a match between Grado and Jarrett at AEW All In.
Nothing was announced leading up to the event, but Grado did make a surprise appearance on the show, flanked by Paul Wight and Anthony Ogogo to confront Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh, & Karen Jarrett.
Speaking to Cultaholic, Grado reflected on the appearance.
"I got [called] probably Thursday night to be at Wembley. Nothing was ever confirmed. I had people congratulating me after the TalkSPORT spot, 'Oh my God, you're wrestling at Wembley, you vs. Jeff Jarrett.' People were making graphics. I felt so uneasy. I never tweeted anything since the thing with TalkSPORT. 'I'm staying out of this.' I didn't want [to upset anyone]. People were asking 'why don't you jump on the hashtag campaign?' I felt so uneasy," said Grado.
Grado noted that he saw all the messages and he appreciates them.
"I need to thank everybody that sent a heartwarming and positive Grado tweet in the last seven days because I reckon that had a big part to play in the fact that I ended up being at Wembley," he said. "At the end of the day, it's an AEW show. Those are guys that have worked hard for years to get on a show like that on the AEW roster. I always knew, if it doesn't happen, I don't really deserve to be at their show, so I'm going to go with the flow and hope for the best."
He said that had he known he was going to work on the show, he would have gotten new gear made and had his family there, but things came together so late. When asked when he found out about the segment, Grado said, "Quite later on in the afternoon."
A big part of Grado's presentation is his entrance, which is the song "Like A Prayer" by Madonna and is sung by the crowd.
Grado did confirm he tried to get the song for the event.
"There's a wrestler who was going to speak on my behalf to secure Like A Prayer. I was like, 'I'm only here for one night, I'll speak to him. I don't care.' 'Okay.' 'Tony my man! How are you! Thanks for bringing this event to the UK! Big fan of your work.' We make small talk. Elephant in the room, Like A Prayer. Maybe he wants to see me wrestle, maybe he's interested in seeing me wrestle. 'Is there any chance we can get it? Mute the feed, play it through the host. We turn off any audio, send a message to the truck, cut the audio, blast it through the arena, and let's party.' He was like, 'Absolutely not. I'm not [fucking] with Madonna.' We had ideas if I could sing it walking to the ring. There was the whole rip-off stuff. Even at that point, we were getting lawyers involved. 'I need this song.' I didn't want to piss him off. At the end of the day, he's got the biggest wrestling show of all time, and he's worried about some jabroni coming in his office [before the show] pleading, 'Can I get my music.' I thought, I'm only here for one night, what's the harm in asking? I was clutching at straws," he said.
Grado said that he thought it could work if the show stayed on YouTube and he said he made up a rule that they could play it for six seconds and be fine.
Tony Khan did pay for Metallica and Queen songs for AEW All In, so Grado knew that Tony had already spent a lot of money on music and may not want to spend more on Madonna.
Fans can find Fightful's coverage of AEW All In by clicking here. Check out the post-show podcast by clicking here.
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