AEW star and pro wrestling veteran QT Marshall spoke with Sports Illustrated on a number of topics, including his match with Costco Guy A.J. and why it is taking place on the AEW Full Gear Zero Hour pre-show.
Marshall said, “Our [match] is on the Zero Hour. It’s free, YouTube, because TikTok is free, Instagram is free. So that was one of the biggest things that we spoke about, AJ and I, before I kind of swindled him into doing this one-on-one match. The funny thing is, I’ve known AJ since 2005, so when I broke in at the Monster Factory, and then the first independent wrestling show I wrestled for was a place called National Wrestling Superstars. AJ was on his way out, and the promoter kind of set us up and introduced me to him. AJ was retiring, and he wanted to pass the torch to somebody that he could trust that was gonna be the ultimate babyface. Boy, was he wrong, huh? No, so that was kind of how I got into, when I started on the indies, he was passing the torch to me.”
On their relationship:
“I always stayed in touch with him, and then when AEW started, he reached out to me, ‘Hey, congratulations, that’s so awesome. I’ve been following what you’re doing, but this is really cool.’ Then we kind of settled for a little bit, and every now and then, we’d send a text to each other. But Sonjay Dutt and I were talking about, hey, what could we do that’s bigger than just what we do every week? We’re not gonna go bigger than the greatest wrestling matches that you’re ever gonna see because that’s what we do at AEW. So what else could we do? With the success of someone like Logan Paul, there is that part of the industry that does bring new eyes on the company. Granted, AJ doesn’t have the [same] following as Logan Paul, but the guy was just on ‘Jimmy Fallon’ the other night. So we spoke about it, and they brought him to All Out. He did some TikToks, he sat front row with Big Justice, they had a great time. I saw the reactions of them in the crowd just watching the show, and I know because I go to work every single week with a backpack and I don’t have my gear on me, and I know I’m not gonna wrestle. So I know what they feels like to watch other people do the thing that you love to do. That’s something that I knew. So I sent him a text, ‘Hey, I have a wild idea. Give me a call back. He did, and it took a lot of convincing. I had to put my salesman hat on and really go to work because he was not about it at all, and I thought it would be the complete opposite. It was like, ‘Man, I was at the show last night. I saw Will Ospreay versus PAC. I can’t do that, especially 20 years out of the ring, I’ve only had one match.’ I said, ‘We could tag team together, and I’ll do most of the lifting.’ But in my head, I knew that I was gonna go one-on-one against him [laughs]. There’s no way that you’re gonna put him, one of the most beloved people out there, you just meet him and you just like the guy, and then you see me, and for whatever reason, I’m just one of the most notoriously hated people in AEW, and I’m okay with that. So I knew we weren’t gonna team, but I told him we would. He spoke to his wife, I guess it took some convincing on that end as well. Then, he finally said okay. Then, we were off to the races. It was like, ‘Alright, I already got him back. He’s hooked now. I gotta just now push it through the finish line.’ So when we went to Barstool to announce it, that’s where I kind of laid the heavy on him, that it was gonna be me versus him, and we set it up. I’m very excited for it.”
On being excited for their match:
“I think already it’s outdone everything that we’ve planned. Him being on ‘Jimmy Fallon’ and mentioning AEW by name and QTMarshall by name, that was more than any interview I could do. So it’s been doing really well, I think it has gotten a lot of traction, and I know our fans don’t love it right out the gate, but all I ask is just see it through. It’ll be fun. It’s not taking up a spot on the actual pay-per-view. That’s what AJ was really adamant about. He really respects the industry. I don’t care, I’ll take someone’s spot on the pay-per-view all day. It don’t matter to me. If more people are gonna watch what I’m doing, I don’t care. It’s business. I’ve been put on pay-per-views before, I’ve been taken off of pay-per-views before. It is what it is. But AJ was very adamant about, ‘I want to do this for free, for the free fans to watch. I don’t want to take up a spot from one of these young guys or girls.’ I think it has really outdone what we’ve expected, but I’m excited for it.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
