31-year-old star opens up on major AEW in-ring debut against Hangman Page
A 31-year-old star made his AEW debut against Hangman Page a couple of years ago. The star in question here is David Finlay.
Finlay joined Tony Khan's roster, making his debut on the June 8, 2022, edition of Dynamite. He had a match against Hangman Page which he lost. He hasn't been on All Elite TV for a long time now.
Finlay recently had an interview with Fightful. During the chat, he commented on his debut match against Hangman on Dynamite.
He said, "It's a cool opportunity. I've known Hangman since he came to New Japan. So it was kind of just like, ‘Oh, well, I guess we're doing it here now.’ Which we've been around long enough, the letters change but the people kind of stay the same." [H/T Fightful]
Finlay is an NJPW star and AEW's partnership with the Japanese promotion allowed him to wrestle in front of a bigger crowd in America.
David Finlay comments on the AEW and NJPW partnership
In the same interview, David Finlay also commented on the partnership between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He stated that the collaboration between the two prominent promotions has brought a lot of positive change to the industry.
"The connection or the relationship that New Japan and AEW have is really, really good for wrestling as a whole, I would say. Having other people show up in different places is always cool to me. At the end of the day, I'm a prize fighter. So if you're going to pay me to come wrestle, I'm going to come do it," he added. [H/T Fightful]
The Tony Khan-led company began a partnership with NJPW in 2021. The first event co-promoted by the two companies, Forbidden Door, was held on June 26, 2022, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Since then, the event has been held every year.