Former IMPACT star and one-time X-Division champion Rohit Raju recently spoke with Fightful about the next steps of his career, which include him discussing his desire to do more work with AEW and NJPW’s U.S. based programming, STRONG. Check out Raju’s full thoughts on the subject in the highlights below.
How much he loves IMPACT, even calling it his home:
No, I had no idea it was for IMPACT. I did a show in Bay City. It was against Ace Austin and Jack Price, two guys that are with IMPACT. Next thing I knew it was on there and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool.’ I thought the coolest thing was the fan response. Those IMPACT fans, I get tagged every week. ‘When are we bringing back Rohit?’ ‘When are you coming back?’ Stuff like that. You never know. You never know what’s gonna happen. I’ve been reaching out to several companies. So we’ll see what happens. There’s a couple places I’d like to hit, but I love IMPACT. It will always be home for me. You never know what will happen.
On deciding to depart from IMPACT:
I just wanted to bet on myself for a little bit. I’ve had some really fun success at AEW. I loved that experience. Maybe I’ll show back up there. I got a chance to work with Rocky Romero recently as a second time, it was at Glory Pro. If you get a chance, go watch that show. Man, that match, it was so much fun working with Rocky. He’s such a good dude. I’ve been name dropping this whole time like an idiot.
Say she has interest in AEW and NJPW STRONG:
He is the forbidden door. He knows I want round three. New Japan Strong. That’s what I want. That’s a place I want to go. Jake Something’s been killing it there. He recently got a chance to work with Shingo—awesome. That’s where I want to go. I know there’s a lot of guys there that I know and I would love to put my toe in that water. That’s my next goal is to get back to AEW, do some stuff. Who knows, maybe IMPACT? But I would love to work with New Japan Strong as well.
