Josh Alexander Says Signing With AEW Was An Option

Josh Alexander might be enjoying success as the current IMPACT World Champion in his second reign. Although there was one point recently that he was thinking of jumping ship to a bigger pro wrestling promotion.

Alexander spoke to Chris Van Vliet recently and he confirmed that signing with AEW was “on the table” during his free agency. In the end, he ultimately felt that staying with IMPACT Wrestling was the right move for him. 

“It was definitely on the table and it was definitely a thought and all this other stuff. But I wouldn’t say it was too close because with all the stuff that had been happening and IMPACT I really felt like [I should stay]. And like also happening in AEW, with me watching every week, I still watch everything to this day. But I just like for me as a pro-wrestler, my fulfilment of what I do is to go out there and wrestle and show what I can do. I think my benefit is bell to bell, that is where I will gain notoriety, that is where I will show my worth in the pro-wrestling scene. And at the time watching AEW, it didn’t look like a lot of people were getting opportunities to do that stuff outside of like the top 20 people that were on the roster. You’d see people shuffle in and out and shuffle in and out it out there. They get their runs for a few weeks, and they go back to shorter matches on AEW Dark and it was just IMPACT has been so good to me.” 

“[Impact] were the first company that gave me an opportunity and got me that visa, did this stuff and like it’s all been roses since I got there man, I won the tag belts three months after I signed and got there. And I had the longest running tag team championship run, you know, and then as soon as Ethan left, everything’s like going through your mind. And I was stressing out being like man, I hope I don’t sit on the bench and just have to watch the shows until they figure out what they’re gonna do with me. And immediately, I got an opportunity in the X-Division. And you know, that happened and was awesome and all this other stuff. It was just opportunity after opportunity.”

Advertising

Advertising

“I think all you can ask for as a wrestler is for an opportunity to show what you can do. Give me the ball and if I drop it, that’s fine. But you know, they’ve given me the ball a ton of times, and I don’t think I’ve dropped it yet. So, I’m just gonna ride this out and see how it goes.”

As a business decision, Alexander seemed to make the right call. Since AEW is having issues with getting hundreds on their roster on television on a regular basis, perhaps staying with IMPACT will help him down the road should he get another offer from AEW or even WWE.

Jason Alexander won the IMPACT World Championship from Christian Cage at Bound for Glory 2021. Then, Moose cashed in on his title shot opportunity and take the title away from him, Alexander won the title back by defeating Moose at Rebellion on April 23rd, 2022. His current reign of 229+ days spent with the belt ranks him seventh all-time in the title’s lineage. 

Did you think Alexander made the right call to stay in IMPACT? Sound off in the comments!