Paul London Reflects On Return To AIW, Praises Joey Janela

Paul London returned to Absolute Intense Wrestling on February 4, competing in a four-way match against Joey Janela, Wes Barkley, and Derek Dillinger. 

London retired from full-time competition in 2018, but has worked a couple of matches in 2023 and is open to taking more bookings. 

Speaking on Cafe De Rene with Rene Dupree, London reflected on his AIW return. 

“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been, just recently, putting my feet back in the water. Several weeks ago, I was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with Ricardo (Rodriguez), the former manager of Alberto Del Rio. Tremendous human being, I’ve always thought so highly of him as well. I’ve been having really fortunate things where, you’re thinking all of these things, I put a lot of pressure on myself before every show, and I get different bits of nerves for different reasons. It’s been a little while and, in my head, people have certain hopes. It’s not that I’m aiming for that, but it’s definitely something where you want to be high and up and entertaining and exceed their expectations. You work smarter, not harder. I still worked my ass off, I feel. Took a pretty insane german that has been making the rounds. Everyone in the match was on point. It was a crazy and chaotic match. It went all over the building. It was great, a lot of fun, nobody is dead.”

After apologizing for the people who got hit with trash water, London said, “It was my first time meeting and working with Joey Janela too. I’m a fan of his, I like his work. He’s doing something different. He’s loud in a different way. He’s certainly made an improvement to his physique over to where he was when he was on those Dynamite shows. Hats off to any of the wrestlers who performed during those TV segments when there was no fans in the building.”

London closed by reiterating that he had a good time and he thought the match was good. 

Joey Janela had praise for London and the match in a recent interview he did with Fightful. Fans can check out his comments by clicking here. 

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.