Gangrel discussed what the AEW locker room is like during his latest Fangin N Bangin.
The former WWE star walked down to the ring during The Young Bucks’ entrance
“It was a really good experience. It was AEW Rampage in Las Vegas at the McCormick Culture Arena right there in Mandalay Bay. Very cool hotel, a very cool arena, and everybody was very cool. It was a pleasant experience,” he said.
“Locker rooms can be intense and intimidating places. Even after being in wrestling 35 years, you could still feel a little off balance, but I could tell you that the AEW locker room was a very pleasant locker room, a very chill, relaxed atmosphere, and everybody made you feel welcome. It was cool. It had a good vibe. It was a very, very good experience.”
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got there. Las Vegas is a three hours time difference from here and the east coast. I got there the night before. I got into my room about six o’clock. I get a nice room, I fall asleep, and I wake up at six the next morning. I’m like ‘Damn, I didn’t get to the gym. I didn’t do anything.’ So I didn’t see much of Vegas which I wouldn’t have anyways, but I would have gone out and ate or something.”
“I get out and I head to the venue early and I go have breakfast. Well, the first thing I see when I walk in is Paige VanZant, Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, and Sonjay Dutt. They were all walking through their stuff, so I went out there and I sat for a couple of hours while they were walking through some stuff for a pay-per-view. It was good watching Sonjay break it down, producing the segment, and seeing where they’re going to go with such a crazy bizarre storyline where it’s a bunch of heels and one face basically in there. It’s a very bizarre thing, so that was cool,” he continued.
“That’s how I started my morning and then it was just pretty much visiting with old friends like Regal sitting back and chopping it up. It’s good to see Bryan Danielson and talk to Punk for a while. CM Punk is super chill. He’s a guy I met many years ago. He came across the same way, which he was always very cool to me.”
“Then came showtime and here it goes. So they told me ‘Hey, these guys are going to be dressed in black. You’re going to have a curtain. The Young Bucks are going to come out like the Hardys. They’ve been called cosplay Hardys and stuff like that. I’m pretty sure they were Matt and Jeff’s actual gear from like the ’90s or early 2000s. They said, ‘Yeah, they’re going to come out. They’re going to drop a curtain and then you come out.’ I’m like, what? I didn’t say anything. But in my head, I’m thinking, ‘Oh crap man. This is a different type of crowd here. Are they even going to know who the hell I am or are they going to think I’m Meatloaf in his white, puffy shirt?’ When the curtain dropped and people reacted, I was like. ‘Oh, thank goodness.’ That was the biggest fear, so I was super happy.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription