Anthony Bowens explains why he signed with AEW.
First appearing on Dark, Anthony Bowens and Max Caster made their tag team debut in October 2020. At the time, neither man was officially signed by the company, and Bowens was offered a WWE deal not long after one of The Acclaimed’s matches had aired. Ultimately, the star turned down the opportunity and instead chose to sign a long-term deal with AEW. Now, Bowens has discussed why he opted to commit his future to All Elite Wrestling.
Speaking to Jimmy V3, Anthony Bowens discussed how, while working as an extra, he noticed AEW have a positive environment for LGBTQ+ talent.
“I didn’t have much representation when I was growing up watching wrestling. I mean, there was maybe one, two, if that. But it’s really cool to be able to live my dream and also have people relate to your story and have people relate to your journey and know that you’re impacting folks positively just by living your dream. It’s been great working at AEW because I always feel free to be myself. It was never a worry. As a matter of fact, that was one of the contributing factors to coming here in the first place was when I was first a extra here, I just noticed people like Sonny Kiss and Nyla Rose walking around not worrying about anything, judgment-free. being able to live their lives normally like everything should be. So it’s a great environment to work in, an environment where I’ve always been able to be myself, which I’m super grateful for.”
-Anthony Bowens
As mentioned, All Elite Wrestling has played host to many LGBTQ+ talent through the years, with Sonny Kiss and former Women’s World Champion Nyla Rose named among those that the company have welcomed since its inception. Plus, record-breaking four-time AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm came out as bisexual in 2021.
Bowens is currently a singles wrestler, though the company have been teasing a possible reuniting with Max Caster in recent weeks. Both men haven’t found much success competing on their own, though, with the two men still not on the same page, whether The Acclaimed make a return to the tag team division soon remains to be seen.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
