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AEW star QT Marshall recently appears on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, speaking on a number of topics including AEW no longer competing against NXT on Wednesday nights, whether AEW will start touring again, and having multiple roles in the company.
Chris Van Vliet sent the following quotes from his interview.
On whether AEW will be going back on the road:
“I think so. As more states open up, I mean look at UFC. They just had a sold out crowd in Jacksonville. I haven’t been following, so I don’t know what happened afterwards. I hope the effect wasn’t that bad and with vaccinations we can get back to normal. The one thing I want is a sold out crowd. My biggest fear is no noise. But wrestling with no noise on AEW Dark, I think we will be OK now.”
On AEW being unopposed on Wednesdays:
“Firstly, I think it’s exciting because there’s going to be more eyes on our product. But also, MTV Challenge, I didn’t know it was a thing. They have the top spot on TV every week and we are competing with them. I just think we need to give people the best product and get people interested in what we are doing. In our stories, characters and personalities. Just hope each fan will watch and tell a friend.”
On his shift in character:
“It was around the time that I started teaming with Dustin [Rhodes]. All the comments from the fans saying, ‘I don’t deserve to team with Dustin. It should be this person it should be that person. QT doesn’t deserve TV time.’ Wherever they got that from was the narrative from the beginning. If AEW actually presented me as who I am, a 17 hear veteran who has travelled the world. A guy who busted his ass… But we didn’t present me as that, we presented it as Cody’s coffee getter. Think about the first match, I was presented as this guy who couldn’t anything. Then we flipped the opinion of the fans by the end of the match. That was planned. We wanted to get me over and for me to succeed. We were able to do that, but not able to capitalize. Little by little that hard work I’ve been doing, I was offered a backstage deal. So the moment I got in the ring, this was my time. But when I realized I was just going to be in the shadow of the Rhodes family, I started building my own team. I decided it’s now or never, and got Cody to do that exhibition match. No turning back now, let’s go full speed ahead and take no prisoners.”
On having 3 roles with AEW: In-ring, behind the scenes and training talent:
“Those are all of my passions. I love teaching and I love behind the scenes. I have one on ones with Tony [Khan] all the time. It’s very fun, but it is time consuming and tiring. I can definitely see a difference if we are up all night and I have to be in the ring the next day. With that there is pressure. But deep down I know that the money for me is behind the scenes. I have to go above and beyond to make sure I don’t mess that up. If one gets taken away, it will be the wrestling.”
What he has learned during this time at Daily’s Place:
“So one thing about wrestling in front of a wrestling school is that I have wrestled in front of wrestlers almost every night. For me, it was kind of like home. But for the big stars, I’m sure it’s harder for them. It’s nuts that we are watched by 1 million people but have 1 thousand in attendance. Of course you can redo stuff, you have the option if there is no audience. We try not to and don’t want to, but you have the audience. It’s weird because we always teach that there is no second take, but that’s TV magic for you.”
On meeting Cody for the first time:
“It was backstage at Ring of Honor. I was doing commentary at the time for Women of Honor, that was the deal. I met him and he was nice. He asked me if I could let Brandi [Rhodes] in the back door. Damien Priest told Cody that I had a facility, because Brandi wanted to train. One thing led to another, he wanted to train somewhere for All In. He wanted someone with passion and thought the same way he did. When AEW started he was presented with the opportunity to have an assistant. I remember him asking me to join and telling me what I was going to make. Man, I was like Jesus, I just want to wrestle. I didn’t want to ruin anything that I already have. But I’m always going to be known as Cody’s guy, but that’s not what I want. I want to be someone who gets opportunities by working hard.”
You can watch the full interview below