QT Marshall did an interview on “My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox” and talked about his match with social media star Big Boom! AJ at the AEW Full Gear PPV. The match drew big numbers for AEW on social media and AJ helped get AEW mentioned on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
QT Marshall on getting Big Boom to AEW:
“Sonjay Dutt actually brought him up. We were talking about trying to do something for AEW that could bring new eyes on the company. One of the things was, obviously WWE has done really well with Logan Paul and stuff like that. So we’re like, okay, who could we find or, but who also has a relationship with wrestling already?”
“AJ, we saw what he was doing. I always stayed in touch with him, not speaking every day, but we always just stayed in touch and stuff like that. We share the same meal prep provider, EatCleanBro. It was one of those things like, hey, let’s just get him to a show, let him do some TikTok stuff and see how that goes. He was with some of the talent that wasn’t featured on the pay-per-view. They were just backstage, and it did really well. I wasn’t there, but I knew as a wrestler myself, that doesn’t wrestle, that has the itch to wrestle all the time. I kind of figured maybe I could convince him to do something. I gave him a call the next day, and it was pretty difficult, but we finally made the deal.”
“When we went to Barstool to sign the contract, on the way there, a couple days before, I really had this idea that I didn’t want to share the spotlight with anybody else. I wanted it all for myself, so that’s kind of where that whole thing came from. He was gracious enough to power boom me at CCW down in Florida and then challenge me to the one-on-one match. So everything really worked out, I believe, for the best with the exception of me getting the win.”
“It is unfortunate that he got hurt. I don’t know when he got hurt. I mean, I obviously didn’t see him before the match at all, so couldn’t tell you, but the fact that he was able to at least finish the match says something that he is a true professional wrestler. I think we could tell by his promos, by the way he promotes himself, just everything about him, you know, he’s a pro wrestler through and through. So I think that’s really why the fan base, as much as in the beginning they probably thought this was hokey, and this was something that they weren’t going to love. From what I’ve been told, it was one of the things that kind of helped steal the show. So I’m very proud of it. I think it was a great business decision on Tony’s part to let us go through with it, and we’ll see what happens from here on out. I mean, he said he’s spoken to Tony, and he’s going to be back, so hopefully he doesn’t get in my way.”
On how he sold the idea to Tony Khan:
“I always go with the easiest sell. ‘Well, we’re not going to take up TV time. I just need a little bit on the Zero Hour, free. We’re not going to take up pay-per-view time, and we’re going to do everything on social media. That’s always been my way, even back when I was feuding with Danhausen, He always wanted everything on TV, and it was like, ‘Hey, let’s do it on Dark Elevation. Let’s do it on Dark. Let’s make the fans want it on the main show’, because any opportunity is an opportunity. So if we can make something good and make people want it, then they’re going to react and they’re going to tweet at Tony and stuff like that. So I think that was my mindset going into it. I think it was an easy sell, but then I think once AJ really started promoting it, and Tony started seeing the benefits, Jimmy Fallon, stuff like that, I think it was a no-brainer.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit My Mom’s Basement with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
