Junior Dos Santos "Excited" Ahead Of AEW In-Ring Debut

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos will make his professional wrestling in-ring debut on Friday's episode of AEW Rampage and he will team with The Men Of The Year against The Inner Circle's Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager.

Speaking to Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald ahead of the match, Dos Santos admitted he is "excited" about stepping inside the squared circle.

"I'm feeling very, very excited man. Actually, I can't wait to be in that ring giving the best of me. You know, to give those guys some hard times. I'm very excited," Dos Santos said.

The former UFC Heavyweight Champion has made appearances in All Elite Wrestling in recent weeks alongside American Top Team's Dan Lambert and other MMA fighters.

Dos Santos revealed once he attended a show, he became excited about the possibility of wrestling and Dan Lambert helped set up the match.

"Well Dan Lambert invited us to go [to] the shows because you know, he was doing some participations and then I accepted to go. Once I [got] there, I saw how amazing this show was. I had no idea how this pro wrestling show was working and once I got there, I felt, man, that was good to see what I was seeing and how tough those guys are as well, you know? They're not cheating over there. I said, 'What? This is real talk,' you know?" he continued.

"So I got very excited and interested to be part of it as well because I was kind of seeing that deep desire in my heart, you know, being in that ring competing against those guys because man, they go hard and also the crowd, they go crazy. They really love that sport, they really love the performances and for me, I was just in love with everything I was seeing and said, 'Man, I want to be part of it as well.' So Dan Lambert [played] his part to make it happen and it's happening [Friday]."

AEW have a packed show planned for Friday and beyond CM Punk vs. Matt Sydal, Ruby Soho vs. The Bunny and the aforementioned six-man tag team match on Rampage, Bryan Danielson will take on Minoru Suzuki and Bobby Fish will face Lee Moriarty on a special Rampage Buy In.

H/T to POST Wrestling