Former FTW Champion Brian Cage hasn’t been seen on AEW television since losing a Philadelphia Street Fight to current champion Ricky Starks in October of last year.
Cage’s wife Melissa Santos shared a video in September of last year stating that Cage is a superstar, and that he was being misused by the company. She also promoted an opinion piece echoing her thoughts about her husband being lost in the shuffle in AEW, claiming that he deserves to get a bigger opportunity to shine.
During a recent K&S WrestleFest signing, Cage had the chance to reflect on the comments made by his wife, as well as the subsequent fallout.
“I’ve retweeted and favorited plenty of things that plenty of my fans have said about me, why would I not? They are supporting me. Regardless, if someone agrees or not, it’s someone’s opinion and it’s positive for me, why would I be against that? The fact that it is my wife, obviously she’s going to have a biased opinion, but I feel like that’s why…it’s not really from what she said, it’s from certain people backstage — and I’m looking at the camera like I’m looking at them — that don’t like me there that pointed that out and brought that heat to me intentionally. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but certain individuals there made it a big deal. That’s what they hung their hat on. There’s more to it, but I’m not going to say that. Certain individuals I know and the certain individuals know who they are,”
-Brian Cage
Cage was then asked to further comment on those “certain individuals” that he believes have purposely held him back in AEW. The former FTW Champion defended his wife’s comments, and noted that him sharing comments from fans online is nothing more than him appreciating those that are supporting him.
“I don’t even have heat with them. I show up, go to the gym, eat, want to have the best match possible, I go home. I don’t hang out, I don’t drink or party. Pretty simple and easy-going guy. Some people are upset because they don’t look like me or can’t move as well as me with the way I look, that’s on them. If you want to talk about professional jealousy, that’s what it is. Without naming names, we can maybe put it together, there is another pretty big superstar’s wife that has heavily criticized things at our company and there are no repercussions for them. Melissa didn’t say anything negative, she just said, ‘Brian Cage has been underutilized.’ She didn’t say anything bad. Even what she originally tweeted was a write-up about me. She just retweeted that and I retweeted what she retweeted. The write-up was nothing negative about AEW or the booking. Basically, ‘I’m a big Brian Cage fan, I hope he gets used better.'”
-Brian Cage
Cage’s contract with AEW was reportedly set to expire in February, but his option for extension was picked up. He made his debut at the ROH: Supercard of Honor XV event earlier this year, aligning with Tully Blanchard Enterprises, a faction that has since been taken over by Prince Nana and will now be known as The Embassy.
The former Team Taz member was then asked if he’ll be able to “dig himself out” of the fallout from the tweet, leading to him airing his frustrations once again about a lack of opportunities to prove his worth.
“There’s not a whole lot I can do. I’ve done what I can do. Until I get the opportunity…what sucks is I haven’t had the opportunity to do anything since then. They have me there for a reason and I’m still there, but if I’m not able to showcase anything, I’m not able to climb myself out of the hole. Until I get that opportunity, I’m just gonna sit around and wait.”
-Brian Cage
We certainly hope that Cage is able to adequately display his talent across AEW and ROH moving forward, and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for him.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
