During the recent Talk Is Jericho podcast, Kyle O’Reilly joined his tag team partner Bobby Fish. They discussed joining AEW, and Kyle admitted that he felt a change with the NXT rebrand. The former NXT Tag Team Champion felt he went from a top guy to something else.
“Seeing Bobby come here, and seeing Adam come here. How could you not want to be back with these guys and part of a group like AEW where every week it’s like a Takeover crowd just on a regular TV,” he said. “We talked about the natural progression and the next steps in one’s career. It just felt for me this is the next logical step for me.
“The NXT rebrand happened and it felt to me that before the rebrand happened, Kyle O’Reilly was a top guy in NXT, and after the rebrand, it felt like plans shifted. And that’s fine, that’s just business and I am totally willing to do what I can to help anyone else get over. And for my last few months there, I tried my damndest to do so with everyone I worked with. I just wanted to be excited about going to work again.”
Kyle O’Reilly then spoke about the end of his time with WWE. He admitted to signing a short extension at the time, wanting to wrap things up correctly in order to do good business. This allowed him to compete inside WarGames one final time.
“My deal was done, it was coming up in December. So, I ended up doing a one-week extension, just to finish up and do good business by them, and finish up with the WarGames and the TV to put Von Wagner over, and do business right, I am happy to do so. Just the opportunity came to come here,” he revealed. “I ended up sorting a deal out with Tony like the day or two before my debut, and here we are.”
When it came to making the choice to leave WWE, Kyle O’Reilly admitted everyone was encouraging. People wanted him to do what was best for his family, as he stated people within his former company were cool with things.
“Everyone was very encouraging just, ‘to go where your heart is leading you, man,’” he said. “That’s what got me to WWE in the first place and all very supportive of doing what’s going to be best for me and my family. Everyone was really cool about it all.”
