Joey Janela Reflects On ‘Lights Out’ Match Against Kenny Omega, Wants To Show His Technical Side

Joey Janela is known for what he describes as “fuckfest wrestling,” but there is a different side to “The Bad Boy.” Janela has wrestled a variety of styles and opponents over the years and fans who have followed his career know he is more than an “outlaw mudshow wrestler.”

In All Elite Wrestling, Janela has stuck to his hardcore roots, competing in Lights Out matches against Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega, as well as a Cracker Barrel Clash at AEW All Out. But he hopes to show his technical side at some point.

“I’ve been doing technical wrestling for a while now. I’ve had matches on the indies with the [Matt] Riddle’s, Zack Sabre Jr.’s of the world, thirty minute match with Zack Sabre Jr. a couple of years ago in Connecticut, and people on the indies know I can wrestle because I’ve done it all in front of these fans but the new fans coming into AEW, see me for the first time — saw me as kind of [a] hardcore, car accident, f*ck fest, f*cking fall off a ladder and kill yourself wrestler which is not the case so now it’s me doing the same thing after I got thrown off that building a few years ago and proving people wrong on a larger scale and convert people and say, ‘Listen, this is not what I’m all about. I’m all the flavors of ice cream all rolled up,'” Janela told Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling.

Perhaps Janela’s standout match in AEW thus far is his Lights Out bout against Omega on AEW Dark. The match was praised by fans, leading to a rematch on a subsequent episode of AEW Dynamite. Omega was victorious in both contests.

“The response was crazy. Actually, we were supposed to have a straight up, regular match on Dark,” said Janela. “Nothing too crazy and I got the call the night before from Tony Khan, changed it to the f*ck fest that it became, and me and Kenny, we went 30 minutes which wasn’t supposed to be the case and it was kind of a big match for me and one of the main reasons I signed to AEW was to wrestle Kenny Omega and I got it so soon and it came so sudden. I just found out that week that I was wrestling him and we did it, we went to TV the next week and did it again and I look forward to wrestling him on a pay-per-view in the future and having a big match with him.”

Janela is scheduled to face Moxley on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. The two previously met in a Lights Out match at AEW Fyter Fest, which was won by Moxley.

Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite on Wednesday beginning at 8 p.m. ET.