Kofi Kingston and Austin Creed didn’t just come to AEW for the wrestling. The New Level say their new contracts give them far more freedom to chase their other passions without having to worry about the restrictions they dealt with before.
While speaking to Inside the Ring, Creed explained that professional wrestling and video games have become the two major passions in his life. Now he finally feels like he has the freedom to explore the gaming side exactly how he wants.
“Over the years we’ve done a lot of stuff in the video game industry, so I feel extremely lucky to be able to have, like, not one but two passions. So, you know, pro wrestling and video games.”
That freedom goes beyond simply being allowed to work on gaming projects. Creed likes knowing that if he builds something successful outside wrestling, he’ll actually get to benefit from what he created—and potentially bring other wrestlers along with him.
“The ability to do stuff in that space in the way that I want to do it, knowing that I will be the one reaping the fruits of my labor as that tree grows, and possibly being able to bring other people in the locker room into that to bear that fruit as well.”
Creed already has plenty of ideas he wants to explore now that those restrictions aren’t hanging over him. He described it as finally having the gates opened and getting the chance to find out what else he might be good at.
“It’s a crazy feeling because we have so many ideas and so many things that we want to do and try and see if we’re good at. So to be able to have, I guess, like the gates kind of open to allowing that space in your brain to get out and stretch its legs some, I think is going to be really fulfilling.”
Kofi backed him up and revealed that this kind of freedom was actually part of their AEW contract negotiations from the beginning. He described several parts of their deals as particularly friendly to the wrestlers when it comes to pursuing things outside the company.
“Yeah, absolutely. And that was really one of the things too, like from the jump, even when we were negotiating with the contract and everything like that, being able to—you know, there’s a lot of things in there that are very, I guess, player-friendly, right? Like wrestler-friendly, you know, in terms of being able to go out and do what it is that you want to do.”
That’s apparently a pretty big change from what they were used to. Kofi said there simply aren’t many restrictions stopping them from chasing something they’re passionate about now.
“There’s not really a lot of restriction. And that’s really exciting, you know, to know that if you have a passion, you can go out there and follow it without worrying about, you know, someone telling you that you can’t do it for whatever reason.”
Tony Khan has apparently encouraged that approach as well, with Kofi and Austin Creed being pushed to pursue the other things they care about rather than keeping everything centered around wrestling.
Their AEW contracts came together incredibly late, with Kofi previously revealing that they weren’t officially signed until less than 24 hours before All In. Now that the paperwork is done, The New Level are finding out just how much room those deals actually give them.
Creed already spent years building something for himself in the gaming world. Now he gets to find out what he can do in that space when nobody is standing at the gate telling him where he can and can’t go.
What do you think about the freedom Kofi Kingston and Austin Creed have in their AEW contracts? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
