Independent wrestling star Ben Carter recently spoke to Fightful to talk about his stint with AEW, and how he worked for the promotion for free due to difficulties with his Visa. That and more can be found below.
How women’s division star Britt Baker went to bat for him:
“Yeah, it was very cool. I’m a big fan of hers anyway, so that was cool that that was a thing to begin with. But, yeah, we had never actually formally met in person. She had just seen some things on Twitter and GCW shows she liked. That just shows how good of a person she is. She didn’t have to do that for me. But, she went to bat and it’s literally resulted in some of the best periods of time in my entire life. So, I can’t thank her enough for being the catalyst for that. It’s all surreal and that part is also really, really cool.”
Says he happily worked AEW for free due to his visa:
“It was originally Christopher Daniels that reached out to me on Twitter and e-mail asking, “Would you be interested in coming and working a match or two? Just for us to have a look at you.” I was like, “Yes. Totally. 1000%.” I’m not like a [sits-in]. I talked on the phone with a representative about, “We won’t be able to pay you because it’s illegal. Would you be interested in coming to do it for free?” I’m like, “I don’t care about the money. I’ll do it for free any day.” From there I was like, ‘Sweet, let’s do this.’”
Details his first meeting with AEW President Tony Khan:
“I met him when for the first time when I wrestled Ricky Starks on AEW. It’s crazy that Tony [Khan] is basically the equivalent of Vince McMahon. Because he’s so easy to talk to and the fact that I’ve played soccer, at a high level all my life, I’ve actually played against [the Fulham Academy] when I was playing for my [island of Jersey], we went over and played [Fulham], the sports director of [Fulham]. So, I’m having these back and forth conversations just spitting football with him. Like, talking about transfers that he’s made, hopes for the season. He’s asking me where I played. It’s an easy conversation, for sure. He’s a great human being. I thank him so much for the opportunity he’s given me.”
