Ever since All Elite Wrestling was announced back in January, it was always speculated that popular indie star Joey Ryan would be one of the wrestlers who end up in the all-new promotion. Those rumors ramped up in early May when reports circulated that Ryan was approached by WWE officials about joining the NXT roster, with an eventual transition into the coaching role in the future.
It was expected of the former Lucha Underground star to sign with AEW, so when Ryan announced on May 30
th at the Bar Wrestling event that he would not be joining either WWE or AEW, it shocked many fans given his connection with The Elite members.
Ryan has now revealed why he chose to stay on the independent scene on the
NotSam Wrestling Podcast with Sam Roberts, making it clear that if he signed with AEW, then the gimmick that made him famous would have to go away:
"People still think I'm [in AEW] or expect me to be there. Those guys are my best friends, and that doesn't change. I've had extensive discussions with them, and they're not sure if what I do can play on their television show"
"They don't really have an idea specifically for me where it's like 'if we bring you on, we have to take away what makes you over.' So, it's a gamble for me, not only creatively, but financially, because I'm making better money than these contracts offer, at least to start. So I'd be taking a pay cut and essentially start over. We've had discussions, but it just didn't make sense. It felt like I'd be irresponsible to myself and where I'm at with my life, finances, my geography, and creativity. It would be a gamble that I don't need to take."
Ryan knows that AEW is gonna be successful, but there’s no urgency for him to sign with the all-new promotion right now:
"We realized they're gonna be successful without me and I'm gonna be successful without them. Maybe our paths will cross at some point, but there is no urgency to it because neither of us necessarily needs the other one right now. It'd be nice to work with my friends, but it's not a necessity right now until they figure out their product and how they want to present it."
At the moment, the former Lucha Underground star will continue to run his Bar Wrestling promotion out in Los Angeles while taking other Independent bookings.