Tony Schiavone informed Slim J that he was being let go from the company.
From 2022 through April 2024, Slim J worked dates for AEW/ROH. His time as a part of the company came to an end earlier this year when there were a group of releases from AEW.
He spoke about his time there while guest appearing on Jaddition’s Talking Indys series. He shared that he was on a per appearance deal with AEW. When he was released, it was Tony Schiavone who informed him of the news. Slim posted a statement on X about his release and admitted that he was upset when he posted it. All in all, he’s grateful for the opportunity he had.
I was per appearance through AEW so, I already had my insurance through my job, luckily. But if I wasn’t and trying to live off of it — I mean, majority of people when they get signed, regardless of the contract, they’re like, ‘I’m a wrestler now. Yeah! I made it, this is how I do it. This is all I do.’ No. You better keep grinding, you better keep working.
This business isn’t a money driven kind of thing. It’s few and far. It’s kind of like NFL or anything to make it there. There are so many people that have not made it or even got the opportunity to make it for a shot in front of these same people that I’ve gotten numerous opportunities and I finally got the contracts. Did I get used well? Did I get used to my potential? No. But, that’s the name of the game. Am I disappointed in that? Yeah. But is that gonna break me down and break me? Hell no. I’m telling you, I’ve got so many sh*t sandwich(es) that I could tell you where I just choked ‘em right down… And just kept going through; that are way darker than getting a phone call from Tony Schiavone telling me that they’re letting me go… I did get a lot of positive feedback (from my post-AEW statement) and I was in my feelings when I did post that but, it wasn’t anything negative that I said and I didn’t sh*t on anybody, I didn’t curse anybody’s name, nothing like that. I was extremely grateful for my opportunity at AEW. I just displayed what I think the fans never got from me is the truth about my character and everything that I do. I give 100 percent plus 10 more every single time that I’m out there. My work’s not it. It’s the other and I know that. I’m not oblivious.
For a great portion of his run in AEW/ROH, he was a member of The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Slim J, Parker Boudreaux, Sonny Kiss & V.S.K.). Slim shared that he formed a close friendship with Parker that is still intact present day. He hung out with Daivari and credited him for always being willing to stick his neck out and go to bat for him.
Slim called Sonny and V.S.K. great human beings and said he loves them both. He feels the group began to falloff after Parker was no longer in the mix. He fully knew it was done for when Ari began working with Tony Nese and Josh Woods as the Premier Athletes.
First off, I didn’t realize how good I had it with that team (Trustbusters). Because every person in that team is an amazing worker, person, just down to earth, somebody you can talk to so that was an amazing experience. Never met VSK. Vinny, great guy. I still talk to him every once in a while but, Parker (Boudreaux), that’s a brother for life. Me and him just connected and when you saw Parker, you saw me. When you saw me, you saw Parker nearby… That was our relationship. We went out to eat together, we talked family, we talked bad times, we talked good times. We really got to know each other. Same way with Ariya (Daivari). Ariya, I still talk to him on a regular basis. We hung out a good bit but it wasn’t the Parker but, Ariya is the one who would stick his neck out for me every single time. If you watch the Dynamite episode where we worked Orange Cassidy and The Best Friends, I got those opportunities because of Ariya stepping up for me. I’m not the type to go, hey, I need to get my sh*t in brother. I need to get my spot right here… I’m not that type. I want it to be fair and if you’re gonna give me that, give it to me. Treat me like I would treat you. Let me see how you’re gonna treat me and then if you’re different than me, I’m gonna treat you like you treat me. So I always give people the benefit of the doubt. So, he really would stick his neck out. Any time, ‘Slim J, he’d be the man for that spot. Slim J.’ He’d always tell me that, always sit there and talk to me and Ariya knows this business. His brother’s been in it for years too so he knows this business. Now Sonny (Kiss), Sonny, I’ve met years ago with another promotion and Sonny is just a great human being as well. Just down to earth, loves everybody. Treats everybody with the kindest of her heart, for real, and Sonny’s a great person. I love her to death. Same way with Vinny, Parker and Ariya. There were never any hard feelings with any of us in that. We enjoyed the hell out of it and wished we would have got more, because it was on a rise and it just kind of just… Parker got took away and then it was kind of the downfall but then Ariya started doing the Varsity Athletes, and we knew then, we were like, it’s breaking apart.
In AEW, we were the misfits with The Trustbusters. By far the misfits. We were like the lost land of broken toys on Rudolph or something. Nobody wanted to play with these toys so they put ‘em over here and we clicked with that.
Slim J is in the midst of his 23rd year as a wrestler. He’s working independent dates and in June, he participated in MLW’s 40-man Battle Riot.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Talking Indys with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
