Joey Janela Says He Pitched To Wrestle The Rock At WrestleMania Hollywood
Joey Janela had a big pitch for WrestleMania.
Joey Janela is one of the most successful independent wrestlers in history, creating his own brand and identity with Joey Janela’s Spring Break and his “Bad Boy” persona. Janela was a part of the origins of AEW, but departed the company in 2022 after spending the majority of his run on AEW Dark and AEW Dark: Elevation.
Though Janela hasn’t been on national television for nearly two years, he claims that the big companies are still calling, and he has ideas for a major angle.
“People have asked me to come back to certain places on TV and stuff. I’m having fun doing Indies. When WWE hit me up, I said, ‘Listen, the only way I’m coming in is if I wrestle The Rock at WrestleMania.’ They said, ‘We have this plan for you, we want you to wrestle with The Miz.’ I said, ‘The Miz is cool and all, but I have to wrestle The Rock. No Rock, no go.’ ‘Rock is filming a movie.’ ‘Too damn bad, you don’t get Joey Janela.’ I pitched an angle to them, to WWE, to be a deranged paparazzi. The Rock is walking out of a steakhouse in LA and you see snapshots. Almost like DPP-Undertaker storyline. Eventually, the paparazzi jumps The Rock and it’s big Who Dun It? And then it’s me, and we wrestle at WrestleMania at Hollywood. The reveal is the cops reveal it in a mugshot. ‘We have the mugshot of the paparazzi,’ and it’s me—disgraced AEW wrestler Joey Janela. I have to go over The Rock too.
“They wanted me to wrestle The Miz at Hollywood. I said no. Rock or nothing, that’s what I said. I need to come in Rock hard,” Joey said on In The Weeds with Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl.
Joey was laughing and smiling throughout his answer, indicating he wasn’t all that serious, but shooters have to shoot, and pitching to wrestle The Rock at WrestleMania is a big shot to take.
Fans can watch the full interview with Joey, or Bruce Hart, in the video above.
