AEW News: Legend’s Son Reveals Why He’d Choose Company Over WWE

Brian Pillman Jr. has been a fixture on recent episodes of AEW Dark, but the young performer has hopes of joining the company on a permanent basis. In a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Pillman revealed that Tony Khan’s promotion is the place to be at the moment.

During the conversation, Pillman said that he always dreamed of wrestling in WWE — where his namesake father competed in the 1990s — but Vince McMahon’s sports entertainment entity isn’t his priority these days.

“I got a whole toolbox full of stuff that would be applicable in either company and in whatever style that either company wants to put me in. But if you ask a lot of people, most people in my generation, a lot of them will say they want to go to AEW. That’s no hard feelings against WWE, WWE is the pinnacle and it’s the top, and it’s not going anywhere. However, at the same time, AEW has given a lot of younger people a lot of opportunities. There are not as many hoops to jump through.”

Pillman went on to say that AEW has also provided more competition in the industry, which he believes is a good thing. He thinks that this is better for wrestlers, too, as they have more opportunities to work on the grand stage.

The performer also noted that he’s a fan of the creative freedom offered by AEW. Wrestlers have more input over their characters, matches and storylines there. He described himself as a rebellious personality, and the micromanagement in WWE might not agree with his sensibilities.

As reported by talkSPORT, Pillman recently requested his MLW release in hopes of joining AEW on a full-time basis. His current status has seen him compete as an enhancement talent, but he isn’t an official member of the roster due to his commitments elsewhere.

According to Pillman, MLW being unable to operate due to the pandemic partly motivated his request to leave the independent promotion. He stated that he appreciates everything MLW has done for his career, but he also believes that the favor was reciprocated as he was part of a hot angle in the form of The New Hart Foundation.

In the Sportskeeda interview, Pillman said that his current base of employment helped him learn how to work on television. However, he’s excited to join AEW full-time as its platform means that the product appears on more screens throughout the world.