Christian Cage did an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri for ET Canada to discuss a wide range of topics. Here are some of the highlights:
Taking Kenny Omega’s One-Winged Angel off the top rope:
I got up there at the end of that match and when he stood up, I was like, ‘Well, there’s no getting out of this now.’ I mean it was pretty damn high, I’m not going to lie. It was jarring, you know, but when you’re out there and your adrenaline’s kicking and you’re in that type of match — the main event — you really don’t feel it in the moment, But it was there. It was a big one.
Working with the younger generation:
That’s huge. The business is all about giving back. It’s given me so much in my life that I do want to share. I don’t know everything, but I feel like I know a lot. I’m still learning this business too. We’re all learning. That’s a beautiful thing about it. You’re never finished learning as a performer. But the knowledge that I do have, I’m very happy to share, especially with people that want to learn and the younger stars that want to learn. The two guys that I’m with, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, they’re sponges. They pick my brain. We are a legit team. We hang out together, we talk together. We talk during the week and we’re not at the arena. We keep in touch and we’re always brainstorming. I love their enthusiasm. In turn, it gives me enthusiasm. Just seeing the hunger in their eyes. With Jungle Boy, for example, he’s mentioned before that he was kind of shy about talking. About doing promos and interviews and things like that. I feel like I’ve helped him come out of his shell and given him confidence. When you have confidence, you can kind of do no wrong. So he’s every time he’s speaking, at this point, those are his words. You can just feel the confidence every time that he gets up to bat with one of these promos or interview segments. Every time he gets reps, he’s just getting better and better and more confident. I can see it in him. I’m so proud of him because I really think he’s a future face of AEW. I really think he has that kind of potential talent. Luchasaurus, of course, you know the old saying you can’t teach size, but the athleticism that this guy has at his size, it’s unbelievable. The sky’s the limit for both of them. For me to be a small part in helping them realize their full potential, it’s huge for me.
The origins of Steve Austin’s “What?!” catchphrase:
Steve and I would sometimes just call each other if we were on drives. Just to joke around and make each other laugh and just do ridiculous stuff. We flew into Chicago, but we had a show in Rockford, Illinois that night. It was like an hour-and-a-half drive from Chicago. We decided to stay in Chicago and work out. There was this gym that was downstairs. When you went downstairs, you’d lose your cellphone signal. We were downstairs at the gym. Steve decided to drive on to town. I guess he was bored. He called me and it went straight to my voicemail. He started leaving me this crazy message where he just started asking himself questions and answering them with ‘What.’