Miro on His Decision to Re-Sign With AEW, His Awkward First Few Months With the Company

06/26/2022 03:31 pm EDT

Miro first arrived in All Elite Wrestling back in September 2020, working primarily in the midcard alongside Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford as "The Best Man." But it wasn't until the following year that he shed that persona in favor of "The Redeemer," which quickly made him a wildly popular TNT Champion. The Bulgarian star is set to compete for the new AEW All-Atlantic Championship at Forbidden Door tonight in Chicago and talked about his initial stint with AEW and what convinced him to sign a long-term extension back in March. 

"I gave Tony Khan a discount. I gave him a discount and said, 'Tony, I will sign for this money because it's the pandemic, but after that year and a half, we're coming strong.' I knew that he was signing the wrong guy. He was signing the Twitch guy. He's basing his opinions on my Twitch and that's where the whole thing with Kip started. I knew that wasn't me. That's just not who I am. I knew once the year and a half was over, I was going to show him who I am and what I'm capable of and we're going to sit down and talk like men for men's money. That's exactly what happened," Miro told Fightful Select this week. 

He also talked about how he's been thriving in AEW. The All-Atlantic Championship match tonight will feature himself, Malakai Black, PAC and New Japan's Clark Connors. 

"They wanted me to sign a long-term deal for a reason and I signed long-term for a reason [laughs]. It's a place where I can be creatively free and now the ball is in my court," he said. "My boss, Tony Khan, let me have that and said, 'Hey, go do you.' I feel that played a big role into my decision of being here. Everybody watching AEW knows that I am a world champion. I know it. I would be short-changing myself and TK, calling that I'm not that. I walk around with that mentality as well. I don't want to sit around a collect a check. I want to create and evolve and to become world champion. Before that, I'm focusing on the All-Atlantic Championship, which is going to be even bigger than the World Championship. I love this place, Tony Khan believes in me, he lets me do me and doesn't have to be involved in every single thing. I love that. I love working with him, I love the company, I loved the stacked roster, the opportunity...like 99% of these people I'm fighting now is for the first time. I love those challenges. I love every single time I step foot in the ring. Sometimes I have 30-45 seconds, but I make the most of it every single time. That's what it's all about. It's not just about having great matches or having 20-30 matches that are great. We only have so much television. It's about what you do with the 30-45 seconds you have. This is where I excel the most."

h/t Fightful

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