Director Kevin Smith recently joined the Wrestling Inc podcast to discuss his experience appearing on AEW Dynamite while promoting his newest movie Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Smith mentions that prior to his appearance on AEW Dynamite last October, his publicist actually warned him about WWE. According to Smith, WWE pulled their offer the morning after he appeared on Dynamite.
Check out the highlights or watch the full video interview below.
Kevin Smith on appearing for AEW over WWE:
“Chris was like, ‘Hey man, we’re doing an opening match for AEW. I’m in the flick. Will you guys come?’ I thought absolutely as it was in Washington DC and we were in New York that day so we just hopped a train,” said Smith. “But when we said ‘yes,’ WWE was also asking if we wanted to go promote Jay and Silent Bob reboot there [on SmackDown’s FOX debut]. The publicist said if you’re gonna do a wrestling show, do WWE. But Chris is our boy and I’ve got no real ties to WWE while I have a direct tie to AEW. Then the publicist said if you choose AEW then WWE is probably gonna take their offer back. I was like, ‘I get it. So be it.’ We said we’re doing AEW and then the word came back, ‘WWE is fine with that. You can do them as well.’ So, I was like we’re doing both.”
Kevin Smith on how AEW Dynamite changed his opinion of wrestling:
“A lot of my good friends were hardcore into wrestling in 81, 82, 83. Sgt. Slaughter, Jimmy Snuka, Hulk Hogan – that era. Sgt. Slaughter lived in our hometown and we would always see his camouflaged limousine… So, I’ve been around wrestling by whole life but never really interacted with it. Going into AEW, as we walk in the first thing that occurred to me is that we share a lot of audience with these cats. We went to our seats and got a nice welcome. I honestly thought that everyone was paid to give us a nice welcome. But later on Jericho said, ‘Those are real human beings dude. They just happen to know your work.’ They sat us down ringside and I just fell in love. You can watch my face and I’m like a kid at Christmas. I become an instant mark and I’m concerned with these bodies that are flying at me. My reactions are absolutely genuine. We were only supposed to stay the first half hour and Jay’s like, ‘Are you ready?’ I’m like, ‘I am not’ so we stayed for the whole show.”
Kevin Smith on WWE taking back their invitation:
“It was strange to me that they said, ‘Oh, you can do AEW and do us’ because at first they were like one or the other. Then when we said we’re sticking with AEW, they then said you can do both. It’s nice to know you’re wanted by both camps. But the morning after we did AEW and were trending, my publicist said that WWE pulled their offer. They weren’t sh*tty about it, but they said you guys were all over AEW last night and that would be weird for them if two days later you were all over WWE. They said that down the road we could revisit this, but it’s not gonna happen Friday. Jericho was like, ‘You are the first casualty of the wrestling war!’ My feelings on it was that I was not insulted. I understood that see AEW as a competitor now. It would have been gracious for them to say do them and do us. I didn’t take it personally but I did derive a little bit of pleasure out of the fact that they’re scared of my boy and his league. There was a bit of delight that came for [Jericho]. But personally, I was like, ‘Vince McMahon is the hard guy that they say for all these years!’ That went right up to the top as there’s no way that Vince didn’t have anything to do with that decision because it involves Chris as well. So at the highest halls of power in WWE me and Jay were discussed!? I think the next week they brought out The Rock so it’s not like they were hurting for not having us. But I’ve never been at the center of the Late Night Wars or the Soda Wars, so to be at the epicenter of the Wrestling Wars was something else.”
