I'll just say it was a combination of a lot of people within the AEW upper office that decided that it was a good idea to have the 'Murder Hawk Monster' on AEW television.
And when you asked why I signed with AEW, that's what I saw, was chance for a new future and everything has been extremely cool with me in AEW so far.
I am AEW born and bred. I will be AEW until I die. This is my company. This is where I started. This is the company that I'll end in.
I know AEW will be welcomed by wrestling fans here in the U.S. and throughout the world who are ready for something new and authentic. AEW will work hard to deliver on that promise.
Everything that was happening with AEW in the world of professional wrestling and the worldwide attention that it was grabbing, for me, like I said, when it all came about, when the opportunity to sign with AEW came, and it came like out of nowhere.
I'll say it loud and proud: AEW has raised the bar. Everyone is doing better, because they have come along.
AEW loves what I'm doing with Bellator and Bellator loves what I'm doing with AEW.
I'm coming to AEW because I believe in what they are doing.
The future of AEW is Maxwell J. Friedman, without a shadow of a doubt. I am going to be the face of this company. At the tender age of 23... people think I'm great now? They don't know the half of it. I mean, my career's only just begun.
But, a lot of people thought that I came into AEW to go right into the main event and right to the top of the mountain and get all the titles thrown on you and push, push, push, push. Not the case, exactly.
I think in my time in AEW, I haven't been put in a very prominent position.
Like AEW, it kind of feels like they're treating you like a professional athlete, and Lucha Underground is like a lot of TV production stuff. It felt like they treated you like a professional actor. The treatment was just above that for a wrestler.
People ask me if I get nervous and I get a lot more nervous before a Jaguars or Fulham game. But I get more excited and have more fun at AEW than anything else.
I don't want to compare us to any other wrestling company. We're AEW and we're doing something very different.
That's the cool part about it is AEW is a very open company to moving forward and changing wrestling as a whole.
I'd love to have written a film and it to be regarded as good. I'd just like to be doing things that are good, really. I think that's all you can aim for. I find it odd when actors say they just want to do films or plays or television. A lot of films aren't very good; a lot of television isn't very good; a lot of plays aren't very good.
AEW is history-making. When the chance presented itself to be a part of something so groundbreaking, I wasn't going to wait around any longer.