Costco Guy AJ and QT Marshall won’t be doing anything beyond the pale in their AEW Full Gear: Zero Hour match, as Marshall recently noted. The two are set to face off on the PPV pre-show later this month, and Marshall spoke with Sports Illustrated’s The Takedown about pitching the match to the viral social media star and former wrestler.
“I think it was multiple things,” Marshall said (per Fightful). “It was getting to do something in front of your son. That’s a huge thing for him. His whole content is father-son content. So there was that. Then there was, he’s very close to Nova, Blue Meanie, the BWO, he’s close to some of these guys from the New Jersey independents as well as ECW and stuff. I guess when he reached out to them, because Nova texted me and was like, ‘There’s no one he’s gonna be more better off with in the ring than you.’ I take a lot of pride in that. I just do my job. My job that night is to put on a great match with somebody that nobody is expecting to have a great match with. There are times that maybe I could be a little more selfish and get myself over more than everyone else, but listen, I just didn’t want to work at Home Depot.”
He continued, “So the fact that I work in a professional wrestling environment, I’m okay. I’m not the selfish type. There’s a ceiling to that, don’t get me wrong,” Marshall added.” I think me telling him that it would be us in the ring together, him reaching out to those guys, being with his son and in front of his friends and family, plus it’s all about the pitch. ‘AJ, think about it. New Jersey, Prudential Center, it’s you, it’s the whole crowd chanting ‘Boom,’ it’s all this stuff. He’s just probably liking his chops on the other end of the phone, but if he did, he didn’t sell it. I think a lot of it was just nerves. I know when I watch Will Ospreay wrestle PAC, I think, ‘I’m pretty good at this, but oh man, I don’t know if I could do all that.’ I can only imagine. Ask me 20 years from now when I haven’t been in a ring if I want to get back in there and try it. But I’m glad that he turned out. I think talking to his wife and me having that conversation with them and meeting them and really going over everything, just assuring them, ‘I’m not gonna ruin what you guys have built, we’re gonna keep this very family-friendly.’”
Full Gear takes place on November 23rd with the Zero-Hour show streaming live on AEW’s digital platforms.
