Brian Pillman Jr. has given an update on his current status with Major League Wrestling and his aspirations going forward, working with All Elite Wrestling.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Pillman Jr. and Davey Boy Smith Jr. had undergone somewhat hostile contract negotiations with MLW which many thought would lead to both men exiting the company.
Thankfully, issues were resolved and the second generation stars will be part of MLW The Restart on November 18.
Now, Brian Pillman Jr. has spoken out about his contract status with MLW in an interview with TheSockMonkey Show and the hopes he holds of a longer affiliation with AEW:
“I’m pretty sure I’m still under contract with them [MLW]. I’ve been working with whoever wants to work with me even though MLW – I’m assigned to them. It’s a pretty liberal deal where I can do a lot of things, you know? I’m not super exclusive to them; some of the later ones are. [My contract] was a little older and they were more lenient on what I could do, so I’m very happy and blessed for that. I’m also able to do AEW, MLW, and OVW television all at the same time.”
Happy to be part of MLW and a deal that will allow him exposure on AEW Dynamite and AEW Dark, the son of ‘The Loose Cannon’ expressed his desire to go further with the Jacksonville promotion and discussed his current team with Griff Garrison:
“I think it’s pretty much known that Griff and I are an established tag team right now. We’re coming in, we’ve got two wins under our belt – we’re two and four. While we don’t have an official name yet, I think sort of the prototype/pilot name is just ‘The Blondes.’ Tony [Khan] calls us The Blondes. ‘Get The Blondes out there and get them a win and stuff.
That’s what we are – we’re athletes, we’re focused on winning matches, and we’re working focusing on working together as a team. I’ve never been so organic in the ring with somebody as a tag team. Maybe it’s due to us having similar experience levels, similar body styles, and stuff. We work well together; we like to keep it very simple and physical, very strike-oriented offense.”
Clearly, ‘The Blondes’ is an ode to his father’s former Hollywood Blondes union with ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin which lit up the WCW tag team division in the early nineties.
Noting the respect paid to his father with the label, Pillman Jr. wants to make this iteration different to what his father did and stand out on his own merits:
“I think I don’t expect to maybe see an exact copy of who the The Hollywood Blondes were in their character, but who’s to say that? It just happened by fate that Griff Garrison comes in. Similar look, we both got the hair. It’s a perfect fit! We are the blondes, but are we gonna be The Jacksonville Blondes, The Cincinnati Blondes, The North Carolina Blondes? Or do we take another kind of theme, like how they did with Hollywood?
It wasn’t necessarily that they were from Hollywood, it was just the theme, you know? Like from movies and that sort of stuff. Maybe we’re the ‘something’ blondes, right? We can take that. We could be freaking USS Blondes, and we’re sailors, and we’re sailing around the U.S, and also we’re doing Jericho’s cruise and everything. Or we could be the Varsity Blondes, where we’re throwing footballs to each other and we’re playing lacrosse and we’re, you know, collegiate athletes. So, you never know where we could go with it.”
Certainly, the potential for The Blondes is endless and the pair’s youth mixed with their undeniable skill would be enough to put current AEW Tag Team Champions, The Young Bucks, through their paces and re-invigorate a sparse doubles division.
Brian Pillman Jr. will challenge Myron Reed for the MLW World Middleweight Championship on MLW The Restart on November 18.
Credit for the interview: TheSockMonkey Show
h/t for the transcription: Wrestling Inc.