IMPACT Champion Reveals They Turned Down AEW

A champion in IMPACT had the opportunity to go to All Elite Wrestling earlier this year but they ultimately turned the promotion down. 

Josh Alexander was briefly a free agent after his IMPACT contract expired in February 2022 but he re-signed with the company just a couple of weeks later. 

The IMPACT World Champion has previously noted that he had interest from other promotions and he revealed to Chris Van Vliet that he turned down AEW. 

"It was definitely on the table [going to AEW] and it was definitely a thought and all this other stuff. But I wouldn't say it was too close because with all the stuff that had been happening and IMPACT I really felt like [I should stay]. And like also happening in AEW, with me watching every week, I still watch everything to this day. But I just like for me as a pro-wrestler, my fulfilment of what I do is to go out there and wrestle and show what I can do. I think my benefit is bell to bell, that is where I will gain notoriety, that is where I will show my worth in the pro-wrestling scene. And at the time watching AEW, it didn't look like a lot of people were getting opportunities to do that stuff outside of like the top 20 people that were on the roster. You'd see people shuffle in and out and shuffle in and out it out there. They get their runs for a few weeks, and they go back to shorter matches on AEW Dark and it was just IMPACT has been so good to me," Alexander began.

"[IMPACT] were the first company that gave me an opportunity and got me that visa, did this stuff and like it's all been roses since I got there man, I won the tag belts three months after I signed and got there. And I had the longest running tag team championship run, you know, and then as soon as Ethan left, everything's like going through your mind. And I was stressing out being like man, I hope I don't sit on the bench and just have to watch the shows until they figure out what they're gonna do with me. And immediately, I got an opportunity in the X-Division. And you know, that happened and was awesome and all this other stuff. It was just opportunity after opportunity.

"I think all you can ask for as a wrestler is for an opportunity to show what you can do. Give me the ball and if I drop it, that's fine. But you know, they've given me the ball a ton of times, and I don't think I've dropped it yet. So, I'm just gonna ride this out and see how it goes."

Alexander is currently in his second reign as IMPACT World Champion, having regained the title from Moose at April's Rebellion pay-per-view. 

H/T to F4W Online