Christian Cage did an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri for ET Canada and here are the highlights that were passed along:
Christian Cage on AEW run thus far:
It’s a gift. It really is. To get my career back, to be able to take it back after losing it for seven years is pretty special. And you know, for me at this stage, I just wanted the right platform where I could finish my career the way that I wanted to. I wanted to do it on the biggest stages. The place that would give me the best opportunities — and along with that, being able to help out the generation coming up behind me. AEW is the perfect fit for me in that respect. Having one conversation with Tony [Khan] about it, I wasn’t even halfway through the conversation with him and I was like, ‘this is the place for me.’ It was based solely on him. Obviously, he had assembled a great roster of talent, but more than anything I wanted to work for him. I wanted to be a part of AEW and help it grow. It’s amazing that not even a full year, even from where I started to where right now, with Byan Danielson showing up and CM Punk showing up and just game-changing stuff. It’s a destination where performers want to be in AEW, they want to be a part of this and they see what we’re doing on a weekly basis. For me, this is the most fun, and this is the most excited I’ve been in my long career.
Christian Cage on taking Kenny Omega’s One-Winged Angel off the top rope:
I got up there at the end of that match and when he stood up, I was like, ‘Well, there’s no getting out of this now.’ I mean it was pretty damn high, I’m not going to lie. It was jarring, you know, but when you’re out there and your adrenaline’s kicking and you’re in that type of match — the main event — you really don’t feel it in the moment, But it was there. It was a big one.
Fulfillment working with the younger generation:
That’s huge. The business is all about giving back. It’s given me so much in my life that I do want to share. I don’t know everything, but I feel like I know a lot. I’m still learning this business too. We’re all learning. That’s a beautiful thing about it. You’re never finished learning as a performer. But the knowledge that I do have, I’m very happy to share, especially with people that want to learn and the younger stars that want to learn. The two guys that I’m with, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, they’re sponges. They pick my brain. We are a legit team. We hang out together, we talk together. We talk during the week and we’re not at the arena. We keep in touch and we’re always brainstorming. I love their enthusiasm. In turn, it gives me enthusiasm. Just seeing the hunger in their eyes. With Jungle Boy, for example, he’s mentioned before that he was kind of shy about talking. About doing promos and interviews and things like that. I feel like I’ve helped him come out of his shell and given him confidence. When you have confidence, you can kind of do no wrong. So he’s every time he’s speaking, at this point, those are his words. You can just feel the confidence every time that he gets up to bat with one of these promos or interview segments. Every time he gets reps, he’s just getting better and better and more confident. I can see it in him. I’m so proud of him because I really think he’s a future face of AEW. I really think he has that kind of potential talent. Luchasaurus, of course, you know the old saying you can’t teach size, but the athleticism that this guy has at his size, it’s unbelievable. The sky’s the limit for both of them. For me to be a small part in helping them realize their full potential, it’s huge for me.
If Christian would like to see Jeff Hardy in AEW:
Yeah, of course. There’s so much history there and, obviously, I’m very close with Matt [Hardy] as well. It’s been great to reconnect with him in AEW. He’s kind of doing the same thing as far as mentoring the younger generation the same way. He’s also got a wealth of knowledge. Jeff is an extremely talented guy. A really good guy. I’m sure at some point that will happen.
Origins of Steve Austin’s “What?!” catchphrase:
Steve and I would sometimes just call each other if we were on drives. Just to joke around and make each other laugh and just do ridiculous stuff. We flew into Chicago, but we had a show in Rockford, Illinois that night. It was like an hour-and-a-half drive from Chicago. We decided to stay in Chicago and work out. There was this gym that was downstairs. When you went downstairs, you’d lose your cellphone signal. We were downstairs at the gym. Steve decided to drive on to town. I guess he was bored. He called me and it went straight to my voicemail. He started leaving me this crazy message where he just started asking himself questions and answering them with ‘What.’
AEW goals in 2022:
My goal is always to be the best. I feel like my comeback has been everything I’d hoped it would have been. Getting some big opportunities. I obviously won a world championship already this year with the Impact world title, but I came to AEW with that goal in mind to hold the AEW championship as well. I’ll put my sights on that for 2022 and I’ll keep myself in good physical condition and get ready to keep putting on some great matches.
Hopes for AEW in 2022:
Even bigger and better… We have a huge following in Europe and Canada, at some point it would be great to figure out how to get some shows there. I don’t know if that’s going to be 2022, but eventually, that hopefully will happen. I would love to take the show to our audiences in other parts of the world that are kind of clamouring for it.
