Kiera Hogan confirms that she is under contract with AEW,
Kiera Hogan was one of the stars of the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team division but that all changed when she left IMPACT and her tag team with Tasha Steelz behind earlier this year and began working with AEW.
Excalibur had previously noted during an episode of AEW Dark on September 28 that Kiera Hogan had signed with the company. As of yet, she has not received an official graphic noting that she is with the company full-time but during the recent appearance on GAW TV, she confirmed that she is under contract with AEW in some capacity.
Speaking first about fan reaction to her leaving behind IMPACT and her tag team with Tasha Steelz, Hogan noted that she has received some backlash but only because most of her fans feel like they would have preferred seeing her with Tasha moving forward.
She also admitted that being on AEW has exposed her to a new audience because not everybody watches IMPACT for whatever reason.
"It's kind of down the middle. Some people are like, 'Oh, why did you leave? You should stay with Tasha [Steelz]. Why did you do that?' Some people don't understand, which obviously, they're not going to understand, and I'm honestly not going to take the time to explain to try and get them to understand because it's my choice. But I mean, I've gotten a lot of fans being where I am now because a lot of people haven't seen before. I'm in front of a whole new fan base of people who were a lot of people are like, 'Oh, I don't want to watch IMPACT because of whatever.' But now that I'm on AEW, they're like who is this and then they go back and they watch my stuff, and they figure out who I am. So it's kind of half-and-half, some people are happy that I'm moving on. Some people want to stay with me. I feel like because of who I am and what I advocate, and who like just who I am as a person, I feel like a lot of my fans have stayed with me. Nobody has been like, 'I'm not watching you anymore.' But a lot of people are more upset that I just left IMPACT because of you know, me being with Tasha and you know, the things that I was doing. Of course, people wanted to see me wrestle Mickie [James] in IMPACT for the Knockouts Title or whatever the case may be."
Talking about her experience in AEW, Kiera Hogan remarked that she had been backstage regularly anyhow because her girlfriend, Diamante, is on the roster and many of the women in AEW were excited to start working with her even though she admits that she feels like she's currently lost in the shuffle.
“I like the girls in the [AEW] locker room. Obviously, my girlfriend, Diamante, worked there before I worked there so I was there backstage a lot of the time helping girls do makeup because I do makeup sometimes. I also have a lot of friends in the locker room that were excited for me to come over there. They’re like, ‘Are you gonna come over here? I wanna wrestle you, I wanna wrestle you,’ like Tay [Conti], Red Velvet, and of course, one of my best friends, Big Swole, Nyla [Rose], a lot of the girls were just like, ‘We want to wrestle you. I wanna have a match with you because I know –’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I wanna have bomb ass matches with you, too.'"
She continued, "Okay, so I’m here, but I feel like — there’s a lot of moving parts going on at AEW right now, so I feel like a lot of things are getting lost in the shuffle and I feel like I’m one of those things, but, I’m just trying to just stay positive and just focus on what I can control which is just staying ready for whenever that opportunity does present itself and I’m excited because — NWA, I still am able to do indie bookings under my contract and do things that honestly I can do because of my contract so I’m able to still work and go out and things and with the time that I do have off, I’m able to just focus on myself, working out, my move set, and going to training or getting bookings.
"Hopefully, like I said, [she will get bookings] overseas or something with the time that I have off because it’s only a couple of shows and the Dark and the Elevation tapings are kind of sporadic when it comes to filming. I’m not really sure like the next time I do work, but I just try to stay ready for whenever the opportunity [comes].”
Cody Rhodes has spoken about the different tiers of AEW contracts in the past. Some talents are simply brought in to work smaller events before being promoted to a full-time role in AEW. You can read Cody Rhodes’ breakdown of those contracts here.
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