Brock Anderson recalls his first time squaring off against FTR.
On the January 28, 2022 edition of AEW Rampage, Brock Anderson and Lee Johnson teamed up to face FTR in tag team action. After teaming on episodes of AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation for months, this was Anderson and Johnson's first time wrestling together on television.
In a recent interview with The Family Business podcast (subscription required), Anderson recalled the match and revealed that he views the match as a valuable learning experience.
"Well for me and Lee, I don’t think it’s out of bounds to say that Lee views them in the same light as I do, they are the greatest tag team in the world today. You get in there and it’s trial by fire. They’re the best, they’re gonna bring their A game and they expect you to bring your A game. So to get in there and learn on the fly from those guys is an absolute privilege. I’m glad they’re starting to get the recognition that they deserve. This Summer, I think they finally started getting the praise they deserve because they are the best. They’re on fire right now, they’ve got all the belts. I remember that night, it was Rampage and the crowd had been sitting there for a little bit but they bought in because they’re the best. We didn’t come out with the win, but I don’t think me and Lee were expecting to come out with the win. Just to get in there and have that learning experience and learn from somebody better than you, that’s the only way you learn in this business."
Anderson also went on to reveal that CM Punk pulled himself and Lee Johnson aside after the match to give them advice.
"After the match… for a guy of CM Punk’s magnitude, to when we come back through the curtain, he motions us over and [say he wants to talk to us]. He pulls me and Lee into his room and says ‘Alright, what do you think you did right?’ We had an opinion that we thought we did something good, and he’s like ‘Absolutely not.’ He told us what we did right and it wasn’t even what we thought it was. We were like oh, and a light bulb went off and he was like ‘Alright, what do you think you did wrong?’ and we listed all of that off. Just for a guy of CM Punk’s magnitude, the top guy in the business at the time, to take the time to [show] two greenhorns what [they] did right, what [they] did wrong, and what [they] can improve on… that was a really cool moment and I just have to acknowledge it because there’s no reason that he had… he didn’t have to do that at all. Just like FTR didn’t have to have a wrestling match with us, they could have just been like ‘I’m not wrestling them.’ So for guys of their caliber to have such an interest in the young talent and try to better the next generation is really cool."
Most recently, Anderson challenged Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure Championship in a match that was taped for a future episode of AEW Dark. The bout was taped on October 28, 2022 before AEW Rampage.
After missing five months of action due to injury, Lee Johnson recently returned to action at the same set of Dark Tapings. To see the full spoiler results from that taping, click here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
