Various: Jade Cargill on Why She Decided Against Signing with WWE, Impact News, Indies

AEW

Feb 5, 2022

Jade Cargill Comments on Her Decision to Sign with AEW Instead of WWE

A recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast had Jade Cargill as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cargill’s thoughts on why she decided against signing with WWE following her tryout with the company.

“They called me back. I’m not going to name the person whose hand I shook, but they wanted me.
The problem they found, that they had mixed feelings about, was that…I don’t need wrestling. I don’t need to do this. A lot of people, especially at the tryout, they need this. This is how they feed their families and they’ve been doing this forever. For them to get to this point, they would give anything and everything to do it. They were like, ‘we want you. We’re going to sign you, but we’re kind of worried about how bad you want this. We’re not just some reality show.’ I didn’t know anything about a reality show. I was so far away from knowing what was happening at that time with wrestling. I was like, ‘what?’ ‘We’re not just glitter and lights and camera. Also, you have a child. What are you going to do?’ At the time, my daughter was two. ‘What are you going to do about your daughter?’ Thankfully, because I have money, we can pay a tutor to help being that we have to relocate to Orlando. I can do that. I can have a 24-hour nanny to take care of that as well. They were like grilling me about it and I was kind of put off. ‘My spouse can travel with me wherever we go, this could be easy for me. I thought about all the precautions and have been warned about the travel. I get it.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but this is your family now. I want you to know that.’ ‘I get it and understand that. I thought about it and I want it. I’ve been training for this and this is what I want.’ ‘Alright, we’ll see.’ They sent the contract, they wanted me to do it.”

Cargill also gave her thoughts on why she decided to sign with AEW.

“AEW came about. I came here, got the experience and I felt calm. You and I, we had this conversation in the car and it made me feel at ease about the decision I wanted to make. I didn’t have to relocate. I felt at home. I could call the owner of our company and talk to him. He knew my name and purpose. He knew that I wanted to do this. That mattered to me. I wasn’t just a number. He knew exactly who I was. That made me feel comfortable. Yes, the other company was pissed off that they sent me a 100 page contract, but I made the best decision for my family and for myself. Look at me, I don’t think I would be anywhere close…I know I made the best decision, and you made me make the best decision.
Cookie-cutter system, that’s what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to be a number. One thing that stood out to me was that I could call and text TK and he knows who I am. That mattered. I’ve always been a believer and I’ve always been an underdog. I love being the underdog and we’re hungry. I want to be part of something that is hungry and wants to change things. That’s why I came here. The locker room, I felt at ease. I didn’t feel like it was a bullying system or athlete vs. wrestling type of system. It felt natural and easy.
There’s more security. There’s a safety net here. [EJ Nduka] gave up everything he had, had a newborn baby, and got cut with no warning. He gave everything. I remember when I told him I was thinking about coming [to AEW], he couldn’t believe it. ‘Why would you ever choose [WWE] over [AEW]?’ You don’t understand. I feel good here. I don’t want to be cut or have to worry. I feel like somebody and I don’t want to be a number. He was so for this company and look at him. I’m like, damn, that sucks. You were all about this company, we talked about this, you tried to convince me to come over, you just had a baby, your wife passed the bar in Florida for your career. It sucks. I know I made the best decision.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Impact Wrestling News & Notes

Impact Wrestling recently announced that they will be holding a new Gut Check talent tryout camp on March 6th in Columbus, Ohio. The company also announced that John E. Bravo and former wrestler Lance Storm will be running this upcoming tryout camp.

Impact also announced that they have recently offered a “head coaching” job to former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. The company announced that Payton would be the official coach for their upcoming No Surrender 2022 event on February 19th and set of Impact television tapings on February 20th at the Alario Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Anthem Entertainment announced that they have recently signed a deal with YouTube to launch an Impact Wrestling channel and Fight Network channel on YouTube TV as part of the service’s Sports Plus Package.

As noted before, Impact talent Larry D announced that he recently requested his release from the company. Larry D provided an update on Twitter on Friday stating that he is currently a free agent and available for indie bookings.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Wrestling streaming service Highspots announced on Twitter that they recently signed a new deal with Pro Wrestling Guerilla to air their events on a new and shorter six month window delay on the service.

TNT Extreme Wrestling announced that they have recently signed a partnership deal with Game Changer Wrestling to co-promote an event called Supreme Extreme in the United Kingdom later this year.

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that Jon Moxley will be making an appearance for the company at their NJPW Windy City Riot event on April 16th in Chicago, Illinois.

NJPW also announced that they have pulled four talent from their upcoming New Year’s Golden Series events this Sunday in Chiba and this Monday in Tokyo, Japan due to COVID-19 related issues. The talent affected are Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Taiji Ishimori, and Jado who were all pulled due to them dealing with fevers or being in recent close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

Dragon Lee announced on Twitter that he recently tested positive for COVID-19.

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced two new matches for the card of their Power Trip event on February 12th in Oak Grove, Kentucky: