AEW star Miro has revealed what lay behind his decision to sign a new long-term deal with the company and why it might not have happened.
Miro joined AEW in September 2020 following his release from WWE, where he competed for several years as Rusev, in April of the same year.
Miro became the TNT Champion when he defeated Darby Allin for the title on May 12, 2021. Naming himself God’s Chosen Champion, he went on to have a number of successful defenses until losing the title to Sammy Guevara on AEW Dynamite in September.
In March it was reported that Miro had signed a new deal with AEW, taking him all the way to 2026 with the company.
Speaking to WhatCulture, The Redeemer explained why he chose to remain All Elite:
“I just told Tony, ‘Now, this is what we’ll do. I’m going to be me,’ and because he’s a great boss, he let me run with the ball. He gave me the ball and said, ‘Do what you’ve got to do.’ And I’m doing exactly that.”
“He’s not there, he’s not telling me not to smile, not to look at the people, not to do this and that. He’s given me a clean go and that’s what I’m doing. That’s why I signed a multi-year deal because he let me do all these opportunities. If it was the situation like before, that would’ve never happened.”
Miro also explained the biggest difference between working in AEW and working for WWE:
“It’s always going to be the freedom. Whenever anybody asks me, ‘What is the difference here?’, it’s the freedom. You don’t have to set yourself in a lower standard, because that’s what I thought the other place was. They let you lower your standard in order to fit their mold. Which, here, it’s not like that.”
“You have a style, you go out there, you do your style to your best, and that’s what makes professional wrestling so much better because you see different clashes of style, different styles clash in the ring. And I think that’s what makes it so much more interesting.”