Fletcher and Davis wanted contracts and stability.
The duo of Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis, collectively known as Aussie Open, are signed to All Elite Wrestling. Their signings were formally announced in late May.
The latest guest on the AEW Unrestricted podcast was Kyle Fletcher and he detailed what led to he and Davis joining AEW full-time. They were happy working for NJPW but wanted contracts. They expressed to New Japan that they wanted that stability and Fletcher described their response as ‘yes but not now’.
When they were considering signing with AEW, they spoke to both AEW and NJPW about continuing to work dates for New Japan while being signed and both sides assured them that it’s not an issue.
So, the beginning of this year was very much like a, okay, let’s assess where we are with everything, let’s look at what’s happening and let’s weigh our options, right? So we were pretty happy in Japan but, not to say too much but, we wanted a contract, we wanted stability. We’d been independent wrestlers for — I’ve been wrestling for 10 years, (Mark) Davis has been wrestling for longer than that. We’ve been independent wrestlers for that whole time. So I think we never really had the stability and that’s something we really wanted and we told New Japan this and it’s very much like a yes but not now type thing so it was like, okay, yeah, right, whatever so we were doing the New Japan stuff and like I said, that was a big goal of mine to get there and I love the style of wrestling there, I love the culture, I love immersing myself there and exploring the country. But it got to a point where it was like, if they’re not going to give us that stability we want, we’ve asked for then let’s see what else is going on and we’d worked for Tony (Khan) quite a lot, we worked at AEW and we really enjoyed the environment there, the backstage environment, we really enjoyed the people there. There’s a lot of people on the roster that I would love to wrestle and that was a big thing and then also, the fact that there is a New Japan relationship was also a big deal. The fact that AEW guys have been able to do New Japan stuff and because we already have that connection, it was very much like a, when we’re in discussions, ‘How do you feel about us still doing New Japan stuff?’ And then we spoke to both sides and they were both like, ‘Yeah, of course. That’s not an issue. It’s still something you can do’ and that was a big part of the decision but then also, we love the environment at AEW and there’s a lot of exciting matchups there and the nationwide TV exposure was a big deal as well so… a lot of different thinking, thought process went into it but, yeah, very happy with the decision.
At NJPW Royal Quest II in October 2022, then-IWGP Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) put the titles on the line against Aussie Open.
Fletcher said a lot of people want to see them get back in the ring with FTR and mentioned that they are the current AEW World Tag Team Champions, which is the biggest goal for Aussie Open.
I think a lot of people love that match (against FTR at NJPW Royal Quest II), a lot of people wanna see us get back in the ring with them and currently, they’re holding some pretty little belts so I think that’s obviously the biggest goal for us. Whether or not that happens straight away, we’ll see.
Mark Davis was sidelined with an injury that caused he and Fletcher to relinquish the IWGP and NJPW STRONG Tag Team Titles.
He is returning to in-ring action at ROH Death Before Dishonor as Aussie Open will be part of a four-way for the ROH World Tag Team Titles.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit AEW Unrestricted with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
