Joey Janela Reveals His Post-AEW Goals

Speaking with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, Joey Janela revealed he had decided not to re-sign with All Elite Wrestling when his contract expires on May 1. 

The Bad Boy was one of Tony Khan's first signings to AEW and he was initially featured in the promotion but Janela hasn't appeared on either of the company's TV shows since May of 2021.

Janela has continued to be featured prominently on the independent wrestling scene, though, particularly in Game Changer Wrestling, and he revealed he plans to focus on performing on the independents going forward.

During his post-AEW career, the 32-year-old revealed to Salcedo he wants to have a run in Japan but he is also focused on helping indy talent get ready for potentially signing with a big company like WWE or AEW.

"One of my goals is to have a run in Japan, which is something I've wanted since I was a child, I've done shows in Japan, but I've never had a steady run there. That will be in the works very soon. I wanna continue doing what I am doing. No matter what the crowd is, no matter if it's 100 people, 600 people, 3000 people, I wanna give the same effort every time," Janela began.

"I wanna wrestle new talent, I wanna find new talent, I am gonna bring new talent to GCW, to wrestle better guys and get themselves recognised and ready for a contract somewhere whether it be the WWE or AEW or maybe New Japan. I want to wrestle two, three, four times a week. No matter how my body feels. There's nothing more rewarding than doing an indy show and after your match saying 'damn I am beat up, how am I gonna wrestle tomorrow? How am I gonna wrestle the next day?' And then wrestling those three days, and giving it your all and giving matches that people are talking about all over the place," he continued.

"And when you get home that Monday and you lay in your bed at 9 o'clock in the morning because you haven't slept for three days and you're beat up and you sleep till 8 at night, there's nothing more rewarding than that." 

Janela also admitted he doesn't think he'll sign another contract in his career and he plans to just be himself moving forward.  

"I just hate politics, I hate the political aspects of this business, that's every business and that's why I am gonna be my own boss and no one is gonna tell me nothing because I know I am right and I know that I am one of the best wrestlers in the world. I need to be me, a hundred percent, I can't have anyone tell me what to do; I don't want anyone to tell me how to wrestle, how to live my life, how to portray myself on social media. I don't want that. I am Joey Janela, this is how I got my name out there and I am gonna be Joey Janela and this is gonna be the year that I am gonna be the platform that proves that I am one of the best. 100 percent," he added.