Summary

Anthony Bowens says he still has unfinished business as a singles wrestler, even as his new place alongside Samoa Joe and HOOK in The Opps shifts his short-term direction in AEW.

Bowens discussed that stalled singles push while appearing on the Battleground podcast. He said several unexpected developments changed the course of what had originally been planned, and that part of the story remains something he wants to address later.

Quote from Anthony Bowens

"There’s lots because it didn’t — I won’t get into that right now. There was a lot of different moving parts that we didn’t foresee happening and it altered a lot of other things which led to where we are today. I think I’ll touch on that at some point in time, but there’s a lot of unfinished business."

Bowens later explained that his entrance song, "Underground," was meant to connect directly to the character arc behind "The Pride Of Professional Wrestling."

"I picked that because not only — that’s what I dreamed of doing when I was in college, it was also tied into the character that I was trying to get — we never got to it, which is again stuff that I haven’t really spoke about publicly. We were working towards something. The Pride Of Professional Wrestling is more than just a play on words for my sexuality, it’s supposed to be a character similar to almost an early 2000s Kurt Angle where he’s this Olympic hero. In theory, he’s supposed to be the babyface that everybody loves but everybody wasn’t, they weren’t supporting. In the same sense with The Pride Of Professional Wrestling, it’s like, I came back and I got this hero’s welcome. It wasn’t going too well for me, all the agitation was going to Max Caster. They’re adding to this delusion that he’s the best wrestler alive or they’re cheering Adam Page, who is burning down co-workers homes, like that’s not a babyface, you should be cheering this guy. Look at all the stuff I’m doing, I’m the pride of the industry. The song ties into it, right off the opening riff — I try to find some love from up high but there just ain’t enough to go around — I’m trying to find love from everybody. The fans, people, Tony, but just not enough to go around, your attention is elsewhere. If you go through the song, it all equates to what this character was supposed to be. It took a bit of a turn, so now I’m adjusting and trying to figure things out. I’m in The Opps now, so we have to figure out how a lot of these things apply to a group setting."

What Bowens joining The Opps means for AEW

Bowens made it clear that AEW has not fully abandoned the singles ideas he had in mind, but his move into The Opps puts that character development on a different track for now. That lines up with his recent comments about Samoa Joe helping him climb AEW's singles ranks, even if the immediate focus is now the group dynamic.

The more notable point here is that Bowens described a specific creative direction that never fully reached television. If AEW revisits that "Pride Of Professional Wrestling" concept later, Bowens has already framed it as a character with room for both crowd tension and singles growth.

Sources

Anthony Bowens while speaking on the Battleground podcast