Tony Khan has revealed that Trent was the one person that was the hardest to convince to join All Elite Wrestling that came to the company.
In a discussion with Bryan and Mike on Wrestling Observer Live, AEW CEO Tony Khan discussed Trent and his Best Friends tag team partner Chuck Taylor. Khan had followed both men’s careers closely as a fan:
“Trent had been in The Dudebusters [in WWE]. I really was a huge fan of Roppongi Vice in New Japan with Trent and Rocky Romero. Chuck Taylor was a top independent wrestler, for PWG and a bunch of indies – super well-respected among the hardcore fans.”
Khan was then asked if he had to do any extra convincing to get Trent to jump to AEW. Previously Trent had a successful career in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and reports had suggested he was going to be used in a more prominent role going forward. Khan explains what it took to get Trent to come, and revealed that not everybody he spoke to took Khan up on his offer of a job.
Khan explained:
“Trent was probably the hardest person for me to convince that actually came. I spent a lot of time on the phone with a few people who really needed the extra convincing. And of people, I believed in, and people I put the full-court press on but that’s the one. There are a couple of other people that didn’t come who made a huge mistake who should’ve listened to me and they didn’t. And Trent did. We talk about it all the time, I joke with him all the time that he made the right choice. Probably every single month I tell [Trent] that.”
“I’m a huge, huge Trent fan. I’ve been a believer of his for many, many, many years. Like I said I was a huge fan of Roppongi Vice. Trent and Chuck are guys that were in a position that they could have kept wrestling. I think they would’ve fit into New Japan’s plans and they would have been important people there. That’s something that he told me […] That they had plans for him and they wanted to keep him and I told him I have plans for you and I want you here.”
Tony Khan then touches on probably the highlight of Trent, and Chuck Taylor’s AEW career so far. The critically acclaimed street fight with Santana and Ortiz:
“They had one of the greatest wrestling matches I’ve ever seen on television period with Santana and Ortiz. I was so proud that they had it on Dynamite.”
Trent is currently out of action due to a partially torn pectoral muscle. He suffered the injury in a match in early January. Reports at the time suggest he will be out of action for four to five months. Meanwhile, on-screen Orange Cassidy is stepping in to team with Chuck Taylor in their continued feud with Miro and Kip Sabian. The four men will face-off in a tag-team match at AEW Revolution.
Tony Khan has also recently revealed his interest in what happens next in the career of former WWE Superstar Zelina Vega.