Josh Woods Discusses Working AEW Dark Taping Against Shawn Spears, Meeting Tony Khan

Josh Woods is the reigning ROH Pure Champion, but with the company going on hiatus, all talent has been finding work elsewhere. 

Woods recently worked the AEW Dark tapings at Universal Studios, taking on Shawn Spears in a match that aired on the December 14 episode of AEW Dark. 

Appearing on Jason Powell’s Pro Wrestling Boom podcast, Woods discussed his match at the tapings.

“I’m not sure I can talk about that. Everyone kind of has their own contact system and some people don’t want to be bothered about how to do things so I don’t think I can actually say who specifically did what, but being in Ring of Honor and trying to be a good person regardless of what it can do to benefit me, just trying to be a good person. The relationships I’ve built and the caliber of person I am has kind of helped me get to that point with the people that are there. It’s nice having people vouch for the type of character I have. The in-ring work speaks for itself. If that sounds arrogant, I apologize, but I don’t think I’m bad. Just having the relationships I have with the people that were here [ROH] and are now there [AEW], really helped me get my opportunity,” he said. 

When asked what it was like working with Spears, Woods said, “When Shawn was in NXT, he has always a leader in the Performance Center, it was just before the Perfect 10 character and that’s when I came in. I got to learn from Shawn a lot and had done some Performance Center shows in front of the boys and Shawn had helped me in a few of them. I’ve always looked up to him and wanted to have an opportunity to do that. When I saw that was happening when I was backstage, I was pretty pumped. I don’t know if Shawn was pumped or not, but I personally was. You never know how people view you or view your body of work and you’re never sure if people are upset. I’ve definitely had a match where I’m like, ‘I definitely don’t want to do that.’ I hope that’s the case for this or for anything because I would hate to see that. I was pumped and Shawn has always been a great guy. He is so freaking smart. He understands every aspect of wrestling and even the brief interaction we had, I’ve learned a lot from him in that part. I’ve been to Flatbacks [Spears’ wrestling school with Tyler Breeze] a couple of times and every time I’ve gone there, I always come out better than when I went in. It’s a testament to how great Shawn is.”

Woods mentioned that he was nervous, but he’s a nervous person in general, but was also excited once he got in the ring. 

“I’ve watched it a couple of times because I’m super nit-picky. I look confident, I felt confident. Under pure rules, it would have been a different match, but I’m not making excuses for myself. I’m happy with it, but I think I did the best I could under the circumstance. We had a little more time at the get go, but things got cut as things change in shows. I think I did the best I could with the opportunity. People seemed to be happy with it. The interview was cool with it, they didn’t hate me, which is always good. They didn’t bury it, which is always great,” he said about the match. 

Asked if he met AEW President Tony Khan, Woods replied, “He was there and I did get to meet him. I spoke with him a little bit. He is a freaking great guy. He is intimidating. I’ve had a lot of really intimidating and authoritative figures in my life from coaches and peers I’ve looked up to, but I was super nervous. I’m such a goober. I had the opportunity to talk to him for a little bit. He was so humble and very approachable. Instantly, that intimidation factor was gone. He was welcoming and warm. It was nice and refreshing. I can see why people love being there and like Tony so much. I definitely like Tony.”

Finally, Woods was asked if he has any future appearances coming up with AEW. He replied, “I have nothing on paper at the moment, but I wouldn’t say anything is impossible.”

Woods was in action on the latest episode of ROH Television, defending his ROH Pure Championship against Josh Woods. You can find results from ROH TV by clicking here. 

You can find Fightful’s watch along of classic ROH matches, every Tuesday at 6pm ET on the Distraction YouTube channel. 

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