Former AEW star/Dark Order member Alan Angels recently appeared on the Talk Is Jericho Podcast for an interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, Angels talked about why he left AEW.
He said:
“I was told that they weren’t going to renew my contract about 45 days before it was up and basically, they just weren’t gonna give me the same deal. They were gonna give me a per appearance deal if I wanted it. I figured that maybe I had reached the limit of where I could get here right now at this run in my career, this point in my career. I came into AEW as virtually a nobody. I’d wrestled maybe three years doing the Southeast.
“I built up a little bit of a following on the internet and stuff like that, but I feel like, there was a perception of me, and I know a lot of people hate this word, but like, I just kind of was the jobber of The Dark Order, the bottom guy on The Dark Order. I feel like when fans build-up that perception of you, I think it’s kind of hard to change that, if that makes sense. I think once that’s decided, once they get that, there’s no changing it unless like, you know, gradually you build up, build up, build up, but like, I feel like in AEW, I feel like that would have taken a really long time if that makes sense.”
“I kind of realized that I could do a lot more on the Indies or other companies. I could really hold up my name doing that as opposed to just staying here and kind of doing the same thing over and over again.”
Angels also revealed where the name “5” came from:
“I think that was Tony’s idea. He was really high on the idea of five and dime, which would be me and Vance being a tag team, but as soon as I got signed, Vance tore his bicep. I think that’s kind of why that never really took off. We had a few tag matches and stuff, but I think that was something that Tony was really excited about.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
