AEW signs Brian Cage

[Vegas]

Cage apparently signed with AEW right as his Impact contract ended tonight:

Brian Cage signs with AEW

Brian Cage has signed a multi-year deal with All Elite Wrestling SoCalUncensored.com has confirmed with multiple sources. No start date was given but we were advised “soon.”

Cage, who became a free agent when his contract with Impact expired, reportedly received offers from Impact to stay and an offer to go to Ring of Honor but decided to go with AEW. The Ring of Honor contract offer is said to have been for the highest dollar amount, but they do not offer the exposure that AEW currently has.

It was not revealed to us when Cage would debut for AEW. He almost appeared in the first Casino Battle Royale at AEW’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 25, 2019, but was prevented from appearing by Impact’s Don Callis, who didn’t feel it was in their best interest to have their World Champion lose in a pre-show battle royal.

With his pedigree, Cage would be considered one of the top free agents to hit the market recently. After beginning his in-ring career in 2004 in Sacramento, Cage has wrestled for Impact, AAA, Lucha Underground, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla among others. In 2019 he was ranked 48th on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 and was nominated for the Southern California Wrestler of the Year Award for the second consecutive year.

On April 28, 2019, Cage defeated Johnny Impact to win the Impact World Heavyweight Championship. His championship reign lasted 180 days before losing to Sami Callihan on October 25, 2019.

We were told Cage’s signing with AEW should not affect any of his previously scheduled independent wrestling bookings. He is scheduled to face David Starr at Bar Wrestling’s inter-promotional show with GCW on January 23, 2020, in Baldwin Park, CA.

[pikemojo]

That's cool! Big signing for them. Was Cage appearing at tonight's Impact PPV?

[on_the_edge]

Hate to see him leave Impact but they have been thru this before. His Impact career has been up and down. His match tonight was cut short to an apparent injury. Now I wonder if they did that to make RVD look bad ass while also keeping his in ring time to a minimum. I hope for the best for him and he's used good in AEW.

[Vegas]

Jan 12, 2020 22:49:08 GMT -5 pikemojo said:

Was Cage appearing at tonight's Impact PPV?

I did not see the PPV tonight but, from what I understand, Cage wrestled RVD tonight for Impact and lost by referee stoppage. RVD then wrestled Daga in a match.

[TTX]

According to Brian's wife, he has not signed with AEW.

[MHardcore]

I saw that too Troy, I think they wanna keep it a secret.
They could use another big guy. One that can work many styles too. Hopefully it’s true.

[pikemojo]

Jan 13, 2020 15:23:41 GMT -5 MHardcore said:

I saw that too Troy, I think they wanna keep it a secret.
f he has, he’s another well needed big guy. One that can work many styles too. Hopefully it’s true.

I agree. He would do a lot to add some more variety to their roster in terms of wrestling style and size.

[Deleted]

Would prefer if people would stop giving him work given that he's terrible in the ring and, as has been demonstrated on twitter multiple times, a monumental dumbass but hey good for him. Eventually they'll start signing guys who can actually contribute something different or that could be inserted into the Cody stuff since to this point it's been the only reliably good thing they had until they killed the MJF angle deader than a plate full of piss.

[Tournament Master]

Jan 14, 2020 14:40:15 GMT -5 @kernodle said:

Eventually they'll start signing guys who can actually contribute something different or that could be inserted into the Cody stuff since to this point it's been the only reliably good thing they had until they killed the MJF angle deader than a plate full of piss.

How did the MJF angle get killed?

[Deleted]

Jan 14, 2020 14:46:16 GMT -5 Tournament Master said:

Jan 14, 2020 14:40:15 GMT -5 @kernodle said:

Eventually they'll start signing guys who can actually contribute something different or that could be inserted into the Cody stuff since to this point it's been the only reliably good thing they had until they killed the MJF angle deader than a plate full of piss.

How did the MJF angle get killed?

They haven't really done anything with it since the TV right after Full Gear. The promos that have been cut really haven't pushed anything forward and MJF naming his stipulations only for Cody to push back his response another week isn't helping the angle. There's also the issue that Cody will do a run in on the Dark Order stupidity but on that same episode when MJF is talking...Cody doesn't come out and interrupt? He's got nothing to say to MJF's face? I'm supposed to believe this is some super personal angle when there's been one instance of physicality since the turn happened and a bunch of promos that actually aren't pushing the only hot angle the company had forward as much as they should be?

But I guess when you have almost four months between PPVs you've gotta stretch things out as best you can but it kinda exposes how bad their creative is as a whole that this thing feels as dead as it does. I'm not sure what happened but right after Full Gear the momentum was basically gone. It's a shame because I really enjoyed all the TV going into the PPV.