Kofi clarifies that everyone knew the contract would be signed, but nothing was official despite the rumors:
“You say it was the worst-kept secret, but the funniest thing is that it only became official less than 24 hours before the show. We signed less than 24 hours before. We knew what we wanted and we knew what everyone wanted, but it wasn’t officially official until very close to the show.”
Ariel Helwani asked why they took so long, and Creed replied that it was a matter of making sure everything was properly validated:
“We had to ensure that everything was right for everyone, on all fronts. It was a very smooth contract negotiation. We had video calls, but being able to sit down in person to discuss, it was incredible. Doing this at the same time as signing the contract went really smoothly.”
Austin Creed also confirmed that they had discussions exclusively with AEW and with no other wrestling promotion. Nevertheless, their contract with AEW allows them to take independent dates just like other AEW wrestlers.
A Theme Song Also Ready in 24 Hours
The two also note that Tony Khan managed to secure their theme song only 24 hours before the show. It’s worth remembering that their theme song “New Level” is not a composition by AEW, but by rapper ASAP Ferg.
AEW faced a lack of response from the group SONY that handles the song. So they reached out to Big E and Peter Rosenberg for help since both had connections in the rap world or with ASAP Ferg. Twenty minutes later, ASAP Ferg’s manager got in touch with AEW to validate the contract.
Everything happened in a very short amount of time!
The complete interview about New Level to watch here:
