Former WWE Superstar Justin Gabriel Almost Signed With AEW

PJ Black (Justin Gabriel to WWE fans) became a notable wrestler around the world through his time in WWE as Justin Gabriel. We reported earlier this year that he signed with ROH- but Black has now revealed that the promotion wasn’t always where he was headed.

Black revealed during an interview with Chuck Carroll of CBS that he almost signed with AEW. While not addressed in the interview, Black has also revealed he almost signed with NXT as well.

“One of the main guys kind of in charge of talent relations [at AEW], if you will, he was the guy who got me into ROH, and I’m not sure if he thought I wasn’t gonna get the deal or what, he thought I was gonna be left open. Obviously, it was in that transition year where they signed one or two people, but now they’re going all out trying to get a roster together. But again, they don’t have a TV deal yet, they don’t have anything yet, which I know they will get, and it will be super successful. I know that. But it takes time… and I wasn’t gonna wait around. Plus it’s only a year. Anything can happy in a year. A lot can happen in a year, in fact.”

He did hint at signing with the company, though. It is not known at this time when Black’s contract with AEW is up, though he noted in the interview that the idea of signing with the newly-formed company can be revisited in December.

During that same interview, Black was asked if he sees an opportunity to compete in ROH now that stars are leaving for companies like AEW.

“Yes, obviously. But even if those guys were there, it would have been exactly the same for me.

“I think it’s a fantastic time in wrestling right now, because that happened, because a lot of people had to step up their game. A lot of people are trying to get signed by AEW. WWE upped a lot of the guys’ contracts because they don’t want to lose them because there’s a lot of money being thrown around. Even ROH, they signed me, they signed Rush, they signed PCO, they signed Bandido, which I think is fantastic. WWE’s been trying to sign him for the longest time. So was AEW, and ROH snatched him up. So that means a lot.”

Do you think Black will eventually sign with AEW? Would you like for him to sign? Let us know your thoughts, opinions, and reactions in those comments below.