Filmmaker, writer, and podcaster Kevin Smith recently spoke with Wrestling Inc. to discuss his appearance on the AEW Dynamite debut, and how WWE pulled their invitation shortly after. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On WWE pulling their SmackDown invitation after their AEW appearance:
Chris was like, ‘Hey man, we’re doing an opening match for AEW. I’m in the flick. Will you guys come?’ I thought absolutely as it was in Washington DC and we were in New York that day so we just hopped a train,” said Smith. “But when we said ‘yes,’ WWE was also asking if we wanted to go promote Jay and Silent Bob reboot there [on SmackDown’s FOX debut]. The publicist said if you’re gonna do a wrestling show, do WWE. But Chris is our boy and I’ve got no real ties to WWE while I have a direct tie to AEW. Then the publicist said if you choose AEW then WWE is probably gonna take their offer back. I was like, ‘I get it. So be it.’ We said we’re doing AEW and then the word came back, ‘WWE is fine with that. You can do them as well.’ So, I was like we’re doing both.
It was strange to me that they said, ‘Oh, you can do AEW and do us’ because at first they were like one or the other. Then when we said we’re sticking with AEW, they then said you can do both,” recalled Smith. “It’s nice to know you’re wanted by both camps. But the morning after we did AEW and were trending, my publicist said that WWE pulled their offer. They weren’t sh*tty about it, but they said you guys were all over AEW last night and that would be weird for them if two days later you were all over WWE. They said that down the road we could revisit this, but it’s not gonna happen Friday.
On being the first casualty of the new wrestling war:
Jericho was like, ‘You are the first casualty of the wrestling war!’ My feelings on it was that I was not insulted. I understood that see AEW as a competitor now. It would have been gracious for them to say do them and do us. I didn’t take it personally but I did derive a little bit of pleasure out of the fact that they’re scared of my boy and his league. There was a bit of delight that came for [Jericho]. But personally, I was like, ‘Vince McMahon is the hard guy that they say for all these years!’ That went right up to the top as there’s no way that Vince didn’t have anything to do with that decision because it involves Chris as well. So at the highest halls of power in WWE me and Jay were discussed!? I think the next week they brought out The Rock so it’s not like they were hurting for not having us. But I’ve never been at the center of the Late Night Wars or the Soda Wars, so to be at the epicenter of the Wrestling Wars was something else.
Full interview below.