Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson nearly joined AEW when their WWE contracts expired in July 2019, but ended up taking the money and sticking with WWE. The duo has a close relationship with The Young Bucks and, according to Gallows & Anderson, the Bucks planned to have Gallows & Anderson debut at the end of the first Dynamite and turn them.
Gallows & Anderson say there was some bad blood between them and AEW over not signing after saying for months they would be joining. Both expressed their regret over not joining AEW at the time. Gallows said there was some internal heat and he thinks someone in a high position in AEW is still offended by how things played out.
Speaking to ESPN, Cody addressed the situation with Gallows & Anderson.
"There's no heat at all. Business is business. I think Karl Anderson, just to see his glow up and him get ripped [was great]. And to look back at what he was able to do in New Japan, that guy is a superb talent," he said. "Gallows, everyone loves Gallows. He takes the award for the most carny wrestler in the history of wrestling. He is the king carny. He came to my house prior to their re-signing with WWE. There were some discussions. We both lived in Georgia. He actually told me a number he was offered, got drunk and then -- not realizing it -- only an hour later told me a different number that was of course higher. I love him. You can't not love somebody who is that carny and that goofy."
Cody continued, "There's no heat with Gallows and Anderson at all. I'm curious where their path takes them next. But gosh, how could you have heat with a guy who told you one price and then an hour later, after some Crown Royal, jumped his price up by a significant dollar amount? That's just funny, that's just beautiful. When you have a wrestler like me who takes it so seriously, I like having folks like that around to help balance me out."
When asked how close they were to signing with AEW, Cody replied, "They were at the finish line. They were. Luke Gallows, like I said. Luke Gallows will step over $100 to get to a dime. There's no one like him. And I mean this totally lovingly. He's not even a good friend of mine. That was a business decision that they made and there are no hard feelings over it."
Cody gave the "never say never" line when asked if Gallows & Anderson could appear on AEW television in the future.
Fightful Select reported on July 18 that it was Chris Jericho who was "off-put" over how things went down between AEW and Gallows & Anderson. Jericho recently said he's happy for Gallows & Anderson and their deal with IMPACT and confirmed they were going to be part of The Inner Circle.
Gallows & Anderson did appear on a recent episode of Being The Elite alongside The Young Bucks.
