Garland further speaks about working with AEW behind the scenes.
Dating back to this past summer, Scott Garland a.k.a. Scotty 2 Hotty has worked with AEW in a coach/producer role. That opportunity came about when Sonjay Dutt reached out to him and Garland expanded on that during his appearance on AEW Unrestricted.
So it was kind of out of nowhere (AEW coach/producer opportunity). I’ve done a lot in Europe over the last couple of years wrestling-wise and I was in Europe in July and I got a message from Sonjay Dutt and asking if I’d be interested in trying out as a coach and producer and it was exciting. It kind of came out of nowhere. The only thing was at the time, with like you said, I had a five-week tour of Europe booked for November. So I did. I start at the end of July and then I worked up to almost Halloween and then I left for five weeks and then I just returned last week so, it’s kind of like I started and it definitely was put on pause and then I came back so I’m excited now to really get into the groove and really dive in and start working with people.
Garland has hosted a handful of seminars over the last several years as he’s gone overseas for independent shows or taken dates stateside.
He’s surprised and baffled by the number of talents who are on shows that do not take the time to show up to a seminar several hours prior to a show. He said most of the attendees are those who are just getting started in their careers.
Garland brought up his success story, coaching and producing at WWE and now being next to AEW President Tony Khan on a weekly basis. He does not get why talents would not want to make that connection.
I’m gonna kind of go off on an old guy rant here for a second. It’s not that old but, it’s baffling to me, the number of talent on the shows that don’t come to the seminars two hours before the show starts. It’s not all the time, but a majority of the time, it’s more of the newer people who are just starting to hit the ropes or take bumps and then two hours later, the shows roll around and people start walking in the door and I’m just like, ‘How can you not take advantage of this?’ Even if you were not a fan of the character I played on television or my style, I was still a 15-year-old kid from a small town in Maine who made it to the very top. Not only did I do what I did as talent and got over, I also went and coached for WWE for six years and produced for WWE for six years and now every Wednesday night, I sit beside Tony Khan, I’m a connection. Do you know what I mean? I might not be able to help you get a job. I’m not saying, hey, I can get you a job. I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is back to building relationships. Why wouldn’t you take that opportunity to come to a seminar? Take advantage of making a connection. You can do all the flips and all of the bumps and all of the moves that you want but unless you have those connections, it doesn’t mean anything. You can be the greatest in the world at what you do in the ring, but unless you have those connections, nobody’s gonna come knock on your door and say, hey, would you like a job with AEW or WWE? That’s not how it works. So it’s like, why wouldn’t you take advantage of showing up two hours early and talking to somebody who’s been there. It’s very baffling to me. It’s not just one place, it’s international and I’ve asked people about it. I don’t know if it’s this mentality that, ‘Oh, it makes you a mark if you go and take a –’ I wish I had that.
On December 27th, Garland made his in-ring debut for AEW in a Dark match prior to New Year’s Smash. He teamed with Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) to defeat Jake Hager, Matt Menard and The Gunns (Austin & Colten Gunn).
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit AEW Unrestricted with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
