Exclusive: Joey Janela Talks Indie Future, Huge Plans For Spring Break

Joey Janela is the Bad Boy of professional wrestling, and more strictly, All Elite Wrestling.

Janela became a major draw on the independent pro wrestling circuit, bringing color and character to each show he was on. When speaking with Fightful recently, Janela confirmed that once AEW TV gets rolling, he’s exclusive to them.

“Starting in October, I’ve cleared all indie dates. Outside of Spring Break, of course. Maybe I’ll try to weasel myself onto a few more GCW shows. AEW has a big TV deal. It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of, so why would I want to do anything else? The schedule is lighter than it usually is. Fuck it, that’s more time for me party. It’s pretty wild. I’ve been wrestling for 14 years, and sometimes I had doubts I would make it this far, but the last couple of years things have picked up. Me and Penelope had a line out the door today, it’s all I’ve ever dreamed of, and I’m all in on AEW. I believe in what their vision is, and the creative freedom they’re going to give me is definitely the option over WWE,” said Janela.

As Janela mentioned, his Spring Break Spectacular with Game Changer Wrestling is the only exception to this rule. He already has big plans and heavy optimism for next year’s event, which goes up against a WWE show. 

“We booked a venue, it’s happening. Nobody’s stopping us! Titan ain’t stopping us! The budget is much higher. We have 4,000 seats to sell out. We’re going to do it pretty fast this year. I’m pretty confident in our ability to draw money. Two nights was a last minute, sporadic thing. Next year we’re going head-to-head with Smackdown, I don’t really care, we’re going to sell out the bitch anyway. Nobody cares about Smackdown,” said Janela.

Before AEW TV and All Out, Janela closes out his GCW shows with Escape From LA. 

Joey Janela’s Escape From LA takes place August 9 from the Ukranian Culture Center in Los Angeles, California. You can stream the event live on Fite.