Before they finally captured the AEW World Tag Team Championships, it would be an understatement to say Private Party had to deal with adversity.
Most notably, the long-time AEW duo had to go a year without teaming in 2023, as Quen suffered an injury that kept him on the sidelines for months.
It was a tough time not just for Quen, who had to rehab an injury and be absent from AEW programming for an extended period of time, but also for tag partner Zay, who had to figure out his new direction.
Zay ended up keeping busy, briefly appearing as part of The Firm alongside Ethan Page and Matt Hardy, at one point challenging for the promotion’s six-man titles.
Now that he is back alongside Quen and on top of AEW’s tag division, Zay looks fondly back on that time. In a recent interview with Denise Salcedo he referred to that year as “scary,” but also a time for growth.
“I was super scared because all I knew was being in a tag team,” Zay said. “I literally got out of wrestling training straight into a tag team with Quen, so to have him not by my side was very scary. But luckily I had the likes of someone like Matt Hardy and Ethan Page by my side, literally walking me, you know, holding my hand, going into this journey, and making me get my confidence and find out who I am. I feel like although it was a very sucky situation that Quen was gone, it was very beneficial to me because I found out who Isiah was, and I found out just to be myself and turn it up a notch when the red light is on, when the camera is on. So to answer your question: Very scary, but beneficial at the same time.”
Quen remembers being happy with how Zay utilized that time, as he believes he saw his tag partner improve and also keep the Private Party duo alive.
“Definitely brutal,” Quen said, reflecting on his time away from the ring. “But there was an upside, which was watching Isiah grow. And seeing that, I was always like ‘You know what? We’re gonna be alright.’ … Watching him grow was a good thing, and not being forgotten was even better. So I would always take it to Isiah and was like ‘Thank you [for] while I was gone.'”
Later in the interview, Zay reflected on tricking his family into attending his tag title win, instead telling them that it would be his final time teaming with Quen. You can watch the full chat here.
