Scott Garland (Scotty 2 Hotty), AEW’s newest coach and producer, was interviewed for the latest “AEW Unrestricted” podcast. He discussed what it’s like to work for Tony Khan, how Sonjay Dutt helped him get into AEW, stories from his own writing career, and more.
How he was hired by AEW:
“It was kind of out of nowhere. I’ve done a lot in Europe over the last couple of years, wrestling wise. I was in Europe in July and I got a message from Sonjay Dutt asking if I’d be interested in coming in and trying out as a coach and producer. It was exciting. You know, it kind of came out of nowhere. The only thing at the time was that I had a five week tour of Europe booked for November. I started at the end of July and then I worked up until almost Halloween, and then I left for five weeks, and then I just returned last week. So it’s kind of like I started and everything was put on pause and then I came back. So I’m excited now to really get into the groove and really dive in and start working with people.”
The importance of building a relationship with the talent:
“When I came in the first time, there were a lot of people I’d never met before, The Bucks, Hangman Page, even Kenny Omega. Coaching and producing, I always say the biggest part of it is creating a relationship with your talent. You can’t start giving critiques or advice until, you can, but I think you need that relationship first. You need their trust. You need them to realize that you’re not just an old guy going, ‘You can’t do that because that’s not how we used to do it’, you know, and talking to them that way. You have to have that relationship and let them realize, or make them realize, that we’re all striving for the same goals and that’s for them to get bigger and better.”
Coaching the talent from what he saw them do in front of a live audience:
“I think it’s easier for me to coach by watching them work in front of a live audience. So much of what I do is moments and character stuff and the psychology and the storytelling. I always say any monkey can do the moves, with any athletic ability can go out and do the moves, and when I was younger, I thought that’s what it was about. I was taking private gymnastics lessons as a teenager to learn how to do a moonsault because I thought this is gonna catch somebody’s eye and they’re gonna hire me and give me millions of dollars. For a long time, I thought it was about the moves and it’s really about creating moments. So if I can see them perform in front of an audience, it’s easier for me to critique them rather than being in a training facility where you’re teaching, you can teach, but I think I’m more valuable as a coach to teach watching them in front of an audience.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
