New details have been revealed on the AEW status of Alan “5” Angels, and it’s been confirmed that he will become a free agent from the company on Friday, July 1 as his contract expires tomorrow, June 30.
We noted earlier this week how Angels removed AEW references from his social media bios, changed his profile picture to an all-black image, and tweeted, “Excited for what’s next.” It was also reported how the belief was that Angels would continue to work for AEW on a per-night deal.
In an update, Angels spoke with Fightful Select and confirmed that his deal expires on Thursday, June 30. Angels says he was told about a month and a half ago that the company was not going to re-sign him. Angels also confirmed that the per-night deal was offered to him, but he did not accept it as he feels there is more room to grow outside of AEW right now.
“My contract, I was told about a month and a half ago, that they are not going to re-sign me,” Angels said. “They did offer me a per-appearance, which I decided not to take, just solely based off what I thought was best for me. I feel there is more room to grow outside of AEW, right now, at this point in my career. It’s nothing against AEW or Tony Khan or any of the higher-ups in the business. It’s a personal thing. I feel, me going on the Indies and showing people what I can really do and showing people that I am a good fucking wrestler, I feel that will raise my stock — not saying it’s impossible to do that in AEW, but I guess the perception, how fans perceive Alan Angels, is, I’m the bottom guy in Dark Order and I feel I can change that outside of AEW. It’s possible in AEW, but I feel it would take longer. On top of that, I never got to have a great indie career. I was on the indies for three years, got lucky, and got scooped up. As a wrestling fan, being an Indie wrestler and doing cool ass Indie shows, that’s a thing I want to do. There are plenty of places to make money in pro wrestling right now. That’s not to say that I won’t be back in AEW, maybe I will, I don’t know, but that’s pretty much it. They offered me something, I felt it was better for me not to. That’s all it was.”
Angels also commented on the “excited for what’s next” tweet he made this week, and the reactions it received.
“I put out the tweet, I didn’t really mean to put it out as a teaser or whatever. I didn’t expect everybody to freak out about it,” he said. “It was literally just a normal tweet, at first. Then I saw some people speculating some stuff and I was like, ‘You know what, my contract is up in a few days, I’m just going to run with it.’ Then I turned my profile picture black, took the AEW out of my bio, and really just stirred the pot because I love watching people freak out on social media. People were hitting me up, asking if I was okay. Yeah, I’m fine, I just like watching people freak out on the internet.”
Angels’ departure comes after fellow member of The Dark Order Stu Grayson left the company back in May after the two sides were unable to come to terms on a new deal. Angels was asked about possibly reuniting with Grayson on the indies.
“I’m open to whatever. If anything, I’d like to have a match with him,” Angels said. “Whether that be at C4 or wherever else he wants to go. That would be my main thing. If somebody wants to book us for a tag, I’m open to it. I’m still wearing the Dark Order hat, it’s not like I’m kicked out of the group or whatever. I have a New Japan show, it’s already taped, with Uno as a tag. Stu leaving was a big thing for all of us and maybe was part of all of it. I’m open to do whatever with Stu.”
The NJPW match with Evil Uno that Angels referenced is their match against Aussie Open in the first round of the tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions. There is no word yet on when the match will air, but it was taped June 19.
Angels is currently taking bookings via AlanAngelsBooking@gmail.com.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more. Below is Fightful’s full interview with Angels:
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