Kevin Gates’ appearance came about quite quickly.
The rapper recently appeared on AEW as part of week 2 of Fyter Fest. Gates’ would end up getting physical, dropping Tony Nese with a punch on the show, much to the delight of Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee.
Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Swerve discussed how the segment came together.
“That’s the beauty of what we do. We’re not just a pro wrestling company, there are still entertainment aspects in there. You want that crossover appeal. I know, and I realize, if I can’t have a match on the show or the best match on the show, I’m going to try and get some standout moments that, it doesn’t have to be me wrestling, I still want to entertain people and have people enjoy my presence on TV,”
“Having the connections I have in the music industry, going through bookies, promoters, and producers. This guy is like, ‘I see what you did with Jeff Hamilton in LA. I book Kevin Gates. I’m a huge wrestling fan. Kevin is too, but he hasn’t watched in a while, do you think there is a way we can get him in there to do something? He’s never done anything like this.’ ‘Oh, watch me work. Absolutely.’ I kept putting the bug in Tony Khan’s ear, week after week. Not a long conversation, just 30 seconds of, ‘Hey, Kevin Gates. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ The following week, ‘Hey, remember I got Kevin Gates.’ ‘Yeah, for sure, for sure.’ ‘Kevin, we gotta talk about it.’ Inching, inching, inching, and sure enough, the stars aligned.
“Kevin’s schedule is so busy, he can get an instant text or call and, boom, he has to be in LA that night. The fact that he took the time out of his busy schedule to come in and play around with us in AEW, have us go viral in all these different social platforms. Hip hop is the number one genre in the world, as far as music, it’s a cultural thing. Just to have AEW’s clips in those Shade Room forums that have 27 million followers, getting three million likes and views on these things on XXL, Complex, No Jumper, Shade Room, that’s a pretty big deal. Even TMZ picked up on it. To have that crossover appeal and me to contribute five minutes of TV time for it to work, I’m really proud of that. Keith Lee is involved, Mark Sterling, Tony Nese. It wasn’t just, ‘Kevin Gates punches wrestler.’ It was ‘Kevin Gates punches Tony Nese.’ People in the forum know him now. It was a fun and entertaining thing and that’s what I like to do. I like to entertain and whoop ass and win championships. It’s also a television product. Let’s make good television,”
Swerve Strickland on AEW Unrestricted
The segment would end with Swerve throwing a cake in the face of Smart Mark Sterling.
H/T to Fightful for transcription
Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.ⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘ
