It was a wild night for Brian Cage at IMPACT Hard To Kill as he was quickly defeated by Rob Van Dam in the ring, but had a different set of problems backstage. The match with RVD was cut short due to a bicep injury suffered before the event happened and moments after the match, it was reported that Cage's contract with IMPACT had expired and he had signed with AEW.
Cage's wife Melissa Santos quickly denied the report.
Appearing on Vickie Guerrero's Excuse Me podcast, Cage laid out the timeline of what happened between his bicep injury and actually signing with AEW.
"I tore my bicep and instantly I'm like, 'No, you're kidding me.' I was freaking out because it was the day before my last match with IMPACT," he recalled. "I was like, 'No one is gonna sign me if I have to have surgery.' I wanted to go to AEW and I was getting offers from many places. I went from being wanted to 'no one is gonna want me.' Once my contract lapsed with IMPACT, I was talking with Tony Khan and AEW. It was looking good. I got an offer, I signed it, and news broke that I signed way before I signed. I came backstage from my match with RVD and all these reports came out saying I signed with AEW while I was still under contract with IMPACT and backstage at IMPACT. Everybody had these weird looks at me like, 'what's going on?' I see the news and I'm freaking out too. Everyone thought I was lying, but I wasn't. I hadn't gotten an offer. I had talked to them, but there was no official offer. If I would have (signed with AEW), it would have breached [my IMPACT] contract."
Cage's contract with IMPACT did expire after Hard To Kill and shortly after, AEW made him an official offer, despite Cage being on the shelf following bicep surgery. Tony Khan revealed following Double or Nothing that Cage was paid while rehabbing.
Cage said during the interview that the original plan was for him to debut at AEW Revolution in February, but those plans were scrapped due to the injury. He said that he didn't know what he would be doing at Double or Nothing, but figured it out when he saw the "mystery entrant" in the Casino Ladder Match.
Cage is now set to challenge Jon Moxley for the AEW World Title at Fyter Fest.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
