The fans dictate which direction stories go and which wrestlers rise to the top in AEW.
At least sometimes.
During a recent episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast, the ROH World Champion was joined by AEW Tag-Team Champions Private Party for an in-depth interview.
Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy spoke with “The Nueve” about their match at AEW WrestleDream 2024, and how the crowd reacting in anticipation of a title change led to AEW changing direction and going with a rematch, which ultimately saw the veteran AEW duo finally capture championship gold in the promotion.
“The crowd made us have a rematch,” Kassidy said. “I feel like if the crowd wasn’t there and they weren’t invested in us, we probably wouldn’t be tag team champions. That crowd made us that night.”
Jericho added, “There were some other plans that were kind of in the wind, but that really stuck after that match,” and then asked Kassidy and Quen when they first learned they would be winning the AEW Tag-Team Championships from The Young Bucks on the October 30, 2024 episode of AEW Dynamite in Cleveland, Ohio.
“We were promised stuff early and I was like, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ I think it was the day of when it hit me,” Quen said. “We came in, ‘Can you sign this, sign this. You got new t-shirts, but you can’t wear this until after the match.’ That’s when I was like, ‘Okay, it’s going down.'”
Kassidy added, “We got told this the week after (WrestleDream) we were going to win the belts. I don’t believe it because anything can change. We had the six-man and then I cut a promo against the Bucks saying if we lose, we split up. I said, ‘I’m not going to believe it until I cut that promo and see the graphic.’ I cut the promo and was like, ‘We can’t go back now.’ I see the graphic, ‘If Private Party loses, they split up.’ Okay, now I believe it. That’s when I call my mom and said, ‘Hey, take off of work. I’m going to fly you guys out.’ I told her a lie. ‘This is going to be our last match.’ I didn’t tell her we were going to win the championships because I wanted her to be surprised. ‘This is our last match. I want you to be there to witness it because you witnessed all of our career.'”