AEW star Joey Janela recently appeared on Robbie Fox’s My Mom’s Basement podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, including how the pandemic affected his performance in the promotion, and how he needs to step it up if he hopes to remain with AEW after his contract expires in AEW. Highlights from the interview are below.
How the pandemic really affected him and made him unmotivated:
“The pandemic happened and that was it. I was unmotivated. I’m not an athlete like these guys. I can’t go out there without a crowd. I have to have a crowd. I have to have that adrenaline. I hate to say it. I kind of half as*ed it the whole year. I was unmotivated. I was depressed. I started to eat a lot. I got fatter and progressively worse. I looked worse and worse.”
Says his contract is coming up soon and know he needs to step it up:
“I’ve had some good matches during the pandemic but it wasn’t like pre-pandemic. The crowds are coming back. I’m under a 3-year deal. My contract is up in May. I really have to step it up. I feel like I have in the last couple months having killer matches on Dark. The arenas coming back have really helped me.
Say that he hopes that his luck will soon change:
“I feel like we have something in AEW, so I’m crossing my fingers and I hope that things are going in an upward trajectory because the whole pandemic was brutal, but for me, it was the worst.”
(H/T and transcribed by WrestlingNews.Co)