In the 2023 AEW WrestleDream, Josh Barnett was defeated by Claudio Castagnoli. He recently reflected on his involvement in the pre-show match during the Zero Hour event.
He expressed his thoughts on his experience while working with AEW during a recent interview on the “Jaxxon Podcast.”
“I enjoyed it. Basically, I was just present. Then, they announced that this event in Seattle was going to be a tribute to Antonio Inoki. Although, the tribute to Inoki was less than expected. Things can get pretty chaotic there, and it’s challenging to keep everything on track. So, I approached them stating, ‘It’s absurd not to include Inoki’s number one direct student from Seattle in an Inoki tribute event. It just won’t work.'”
Moving on, he stated, “We arranged something. There were a few more things planned, but eventually, it just turned out to be a solo match with Claudio [Castagnoli]. It was an incredible experience. The driving force for me was to put myself out there and test them out. It was about, ‘Let’s see how this goes.’”