Bear Bronson on His Signing with TNA & Being Contacted by WWE for Potential Deal

Fightful held a recent interview with former AEW and current TNA talent Bear Bronson. One of the topics discussed included Bronson’s thoughts about how he took the early rumblings of TNA Wrestling being interested in signing him with a grain of sale.

“I was just doing what I was doing and you learn in wrestling to, if you hear rumblings of something, you just take it with a grain of salt and you don’t get over excited about things. ‘Cause I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard something and it’s never happened. So you get your hopes up, you get your hopes up and it just doesn’t happen. You learn over time, okay, if you hear something cool, you’re just, ‘Cool, that sounds cool. But if it happens, cool.’”

Bronson also gave his thoughts about Brian Myers was one of the first people to clue him in on the contract situation.

“I think the first rumblings I heard were from Brian Myers, who trained me, and we became very close friends over time. That’s just how Create-A-Pro is. But he had hit me up and he was like, ‘Hey, just letting you know, I don’t know if you’re interested, but there’s an idea floating around that Dreamer had expressed,’ and, again, I was like, ‘That sounds very cool. I would love to be in a group with you.’”

Bronson also gave his thoughts about how he was very happy with the rumors and primarily due to his view about TNA being the place where people can be the best versions of themselves.

“TNA is a place that I’ve always loved as a fan. To me, it’s a place where people get to grow into being the best versions of themselves that they can. So right off the bat hearing those rumblings, I was like, ‘That sounds great.’ I was in a position then to where on the Indies, I’m having fun. I get to be me, I’m in full control myself, I’m having fun. I’m not even looking to get signed anywhere. But I heard that and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s that sounds really cool. If that is to happen, great. That sounds awesome.’”

Bronson also gave his thoughts about when TNA reached out to him for a contract with the company.

“Then heard it more and more, might be, might not, whatever, whatever. Then I was at Wrestling Open where Tommy Dreamer had called me himself and gave me the offer and everything and told me the whole idea, which I’m not used to at all, like an actual idea and plan and like, ‘Wow, that’s very different, very cool,’ and the whole deal and everything. TNA has been so accommodating and even welcoming of who I am and the performer that I am. One of the things right off the bat where I was like, ‘Of course, if I’m signing somewhere, it’s going to be my top priority. I just need to let you know. I already have this trip for Japan set in motion. Everything’s already paid for. Visas, all that stuff’s done.’ Without even saying anything, he was like, ‘Absolutely. You need to go do that for yourself. That’s a personal thing that you should experience,’ and they were just over the top accommodating. I was like, ‘Great. That sounds excellent.’ It felt nice to be wanted. So that’s really cool.”

Bronson also gave his thoughts about how he was contacted by WWE for a potential deal but ended up still signing with TNA.

“It was funny ‘cause that was the week of my birthday and then on my birthday, I was contacted by WWE and that’s where I was like, ‘Oh, man!’ It was really cool. That was actually through Gabe Sapolsky, who I was talking to and he was extremely helpful. After talking with him and stuff like that, I felt like TNA was my best option because it just felt right. Everything just felt right. It’s like, ‘Why would you turn that away? Everything feels right.’ It felt like a place, again, I’ll go back to it’s always reminded me of a place where people go to grow and that’s the position I’m in right now, where I’m like, ‘I’m on a streak, I’m on a run right now. But I am not a finished product.’ I was like, ‘I definitely have room to grow.’ It just felt perfect. I think I made the decision already in my head, but it’s always good to explore your options and it really was a no-brainer to me. So that’s where I’d signed with TNA and debuted and everything has felt right since.”

Bronson also gave his thoughts about all of the praise that he got after he officially signed with TNA.

“That was one of the things that like hit me where it just felt right. The praise caught me off guard. I don’t know, that always catches me off guard where that just felt nice. TNA is a place where I just felt ultra welcomed off the bat, but this was definitely an instance where, ‘cause everybody’s goals are to get signed. But I just took the whole year to just do me and whatever happens happens and everything fell into place how it felt like it was supposed to. So that’s what made it feel right. Then the reception that came with it was very reinforcing, very overwhelming. So I’m very lucky.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com