Bear Bronson’s time in AEW came to an end on June 1st.
Him and Bear Boulder - known as the Iron Savages - came into the promotion back in 2020 mainly as enhancement talent and impressed immediately during their matches against The Dark Order and Jurassic Express. The duo was with AEW for five years, and though they got wins here and there, Iron Savages were never on top of the division.
But it only got worse on February 7th.
That’s because Bear Boulder was fired from AEW after being charged with domestic violence. The incident actually occurred on January 13th as the reports state that Boulder (whose real name is Thomas David Wansaw) allegedly choked his fiancee.
That left Bear Bronson alone and not surprisingly, he was most treated as a jobber until his exit. But it isn’t the lackluster end to AEW that bothered Bronson. Speaking on The Wrestling Junkies podcast, the former AEW star revealed that he was quite unhappy for some time now in AEW and discussed in detail how the company viewed him and Boulder throughout their run.
"I believe, at this point in my career, I'm not going to say I ever fell out of love with wrestling, but I do believe I hit a point in AEW where I felt complacent. Just with the role we were given and when you're surrounded by a lot of people that pressure you to 'just be grateful. Be grateful you're getting used for that minute and 30 seconds.' You kind of put yourself in this mode of forcing yourself to be happy with what you're doing when I'm looking at my best friends becoming world champions and my peers chasing the things they want, but I have a lot of people looking down on me saying, 'Just be happy you're used at all.' That kind of gets to you, 'I am happy,' even though you're not. The truth is, having a job with AEW, that is something people would kill for. I'm still grateful that over the past four years I've gotten to grow with AEW. Good experiences, bad experiences. I went through a serious growth period,"
However, there was a moment where Bronson knew that it was time to leave AEW. He recalls a discussion he had with the office about moving up the card, but Bronson learned that Tony Khan only saw Iron Savages as an enhancement act.
"I do feel like I was put in a box. Right before I left, I had spoken to an office person where I asked them, 'We're being very good team players. We do everything that is asked of us and we give zero pushback. Tony really likes the Iron Savages characters.' He was kind of the only one that did. He loved the motorboating and all that. I feel like I can take anything and try my best and have fun with it. I do feel that was a little to my detriment because it is something he thought was entertaining. 'Great. I'm making my boss happy.' I asked them, 'Is this something that can grow bigger? Over the next year, can we rise up the card?' They were very honest. Someone got back to me and said, 'No, they just see this as an enhancement thing.' That's when I was like, 'Oh man, I gotta get the [frick] out of here.' That answered it.
That wasn't the last straw, but it was a big straw where, what I was doing wasn't right. It is now confirmed I'm being complacent with my spot. CM Punk and Steve Austin say it; if you're in this business and your goal isn't to be a top guy, or close to the top guy, you shouldn't be there. I believe that, too. Your dream isn't to be the guy already in the ring and lose in 30 seconds. Your dream is to main event WrestleMania, to be a star, to be the top guy, to be the best performer you can be. When they told me that, sirens went off in my head. 'I have to get the [frick] out of here.' That's no knock on them. They have a lot of signed people and a lot of people to cater to. Tony Kahn and AEW are not sitting at home thinking about Bear Bronson. I don't blame them for that. That's not their fault. I need to pull back and when I do leave, I have to recollect."