AEW: Komander on AEW Signing, Saraya on Origin of The Outcasts, Shawn Spears

Komander Comments on His Recent Signing with AEW

As noted before, this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show featured a match between Komander and Jay White. Despite being on the losing end of the match, AEW announced that they had signed Komander to an official contract with the company.

Following the announcement, AEW held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Komander. One of the topics discussed included Komander’s thoughts on his recent signing with the company.

“Thank you for everything. I figured it out, I am very, very excited & I don’t believe this. God is good and God’s timing is always right. I just want to say this: Mom, Dad, we made it. I thank my family for never leaving me by myself. I apologize, I can’t speak that much because this is years work to be here. I want to hold these tears, but they are of happiness, of hard work, and I want to tell all the people that supported me & that were with me during the roughest times that we are here now and the story of this human being who will fight for everything. The world keeps learning about us, so I want to thank you all for bringing me here and will go even more further because I owe it to the people who supported me. Thank you AEW for welcoming me, and thank you God for this. My family, this one is for y’all because you all never left me. To my mom & my brothers, we will move forward. Fight for your dreams because everything is possible of you have faith, if you have discipline, and if you have respect for those in your profession. VENGA! Muchas gracias!!”

.@LexyNair catches up with @KomandercrMX last night at #AEWDynamite after it was announced that #KomaderIsAllElite pic.twitter.com/FOe7856jCF

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) April 20, 2023

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Saraya Comments on Origin of The Outcasts in AEW

A recent episode of TalkSPORT’s Fight Night Boxing podcast had Saraya as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Saraya’s thoughts on the creation and origin of her Outcasts group in AEW.

“It kind of started falling together because Tony (Khan) put all these different matches together and there wasn’t really a story to them right after me and Britt were done, and then they just started going together. Toni was like, ‘I want to turn heel.’ Tony Khan did this thing where he was like, ‘We have to do this promo with (Hikaru) Shida. We did this backstage with Shida where I had to tell Toni, ‘Hey, I want you to be my partner.’ I told Tony Khan, because he was there for it, ‘Do you care if I turn my back to Shida? I feel it’s really shitty to do. It might come across as a little heelish,’ but I kind of wanted to turn heel. He was like, ‘Sure.’ We did it. ‘I love it. It was hilarious.’ Shida was so great with her response. Then he started seeing me and Toni together more and more and we started building this tag team where we were more obsessed with each other and started hating everybody else. ‘Okay, we need to bring one more person in,’ because they wanted to eventually do the six-person. We were talking about Ruby. Ruby is ex-WWE with an outsider kind of thing, and I love to give nods to NWO, they are one of my favorite factions.”

On the topics of criticisms from wrestling fans over The Outcasts being a rip-off of the nWo or D-Generation X but those same people will praise Bullet Club, Saraya stated:

“I’m telling you, it’s when girls do shit or when I do something. It’s so easy for me to be a heel because they just hate me. They really have this blood boiling hate for me, and I don’t know why. Easy money though. You’re giving me the easiest paycheck of my career. I don’t have to do shit to piss you off. Anytime we do it, or a female does something, it’s like, ‘You’re a rip off.’ Calm down, we’re having fun. All three of us are having so much fun that we don’t give a crap about what anyone is saying. We’re having fun, we’re enjoying ourselves, we love it, and you’re making us laugh and smile when you hate us so much because this is so easy.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Shawn Spears Comments on AEW Giving Him “All the Time in the World” for Return Following Mother’s Passing

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast had Shawn Spears as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Spears thoughts on AEW being very supportive towards him over last year being a tough year of his life.

“Last year was tough. I lost my mom last August. [Chris – So sorry]. Thank you. It was just, we kind of knew it was coming. But then it happened very suddenly. So that was tough. But at the same time, Cassie was five and a half, six months pregnant. So like, I’m expecting and losing at the same time. And then, you know, I’m in Florida, and I’m trying to settle my mom’s estate, all my family [is in Canada]. I have no family here. Just so everybody’s home. And you know, my family doesn’t come from any money. They don’t, we didn’t have anything growing up. So it’s just a matter of making sure everything is handled and taken care of. And my, my sister, my older sister, she’s doing a lot of the running around and like basically, a lot of them didn’t have a chance to like mourn, I didn’t have a chance to mourn because I’m way over here and I’m not with them, and then you go home quick. And then you have to get back to your wife and like it’s, it was just a lot and AEW is very good about kind of allowing me that time.”

Spears also praised AEW CEO Tony Khan for granting him all of the time off he needed following the passing of his mother this past August and the birth of his first child.

“Like I was saying before, just what a sweetheart of a man, gave me all the time in the world when my mom passed. And now that Austin’s been born, I had all the time in the world to be home with my wife, cause it’s just us here. Just a good man, a busy man, but a good man.”

Transcript h/t: ChrisVanVliet.com