"They were like trying to charge me to wrestle" – David Arquette on his failed attempt to compete in AEW
Hollywood movie star and former WCW World Heavyweight Champion David Arquette revealed he pitched the idea of where he'd work in a match for All Elite Wrestling in 2019.
Arquette is best known for his roles in movies like Scream, Eight Legged Freaks, and the wrestling movie Ready to Rumble. He also became a cult-like figure in the wrestling industry after his infamous reign as the WCW Champion in 2000.
#NowWatching YOU CANNOT KILL DAVID ARQUETTE (2020) https://t.co/9Tmx9IXnVX
To make it up to fans who hated him for holding the "big gold belt" in WCW, Arquette made a return to professional wrestling in 2018, training under AEW star Peter Avalon. This return culminated in the critically acclaimed 2020 documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Arquette revealed that throughout the process of making the film, he had the idea to work a match for AEW, even going as far as to talk to Cody Rhodes about it:
"I was talking to Cody Rhodes about trying to have him in the film, it was right as the AEW stuff was coming together. Yeah, I did (pitch a match). I thought it'd be so funny, like, 'you disrespected the belt and my dad had it and I'm going to pay him back.'" (H/T - Fightful).
To Arquette's disappointment, the idea didn't come to pass as AEW's TV network TNT interveined:
"That's one thing that was a little upsetting, especially with AEW because they had all the guys in AEW that were in the movie and I wanted to go and do a match or something to promote the movie and they were, like, [no]. I think it was TNT, they were trying to charge me to wrestle. It went through the publicity department to TNT or something and they were, like, 'well, it cost this to...' 'Forget it.' We were looking to advertise on the shows, at least some form of advertisement within AEW, but they looked at it, like, 'We charge this much for someone to promote in the ring.' That was a little depressing because I knew a bunch of the guys over there." (H/T Fightful).
David Arquette did successfully compete in a deathmatch for his documentary
The words "deathmatch" and "David Arquette" don't feel like they belong in the same sentence, however, one of the standout moments of Arquette's wrestling comeback was his now-infamous bout with Nick Gage for GCW.
The match took place at the LA Confidential event hosted by AEW star Joey Janela and got heavily featured in Gage's episode of Dark Side of the Ring.
Turns out Death Matches aren’t my thing
Despite being arranged ahead of time, the match quickly fell apart as David Arquette bled heavily, with Gage fearing he may have killed the famous movie star. Arquette has not competed in a deathmatch since.
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