During a recent appearance on the “AEW Unrestricted” podcast, AEW referee Bryce Remsburg commented on being signed by AEW, how it happened, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On how he got signed to AEW: “The first promotion ever to fly The Young Bucks to a wrestling show was called Chikara, which is a long-running northeast, based in Philadelphia, promotion that I was with from day one, and when The Young Bucks would come to Philadelphia or New York, I was the one to pick them up from the airport because I did all the travel. I did a lot of travel for Chikara. This is 2008 – 2009.
“I would pick these young, kind, southern California, Christian boys up at the airport. I would take them to Wah Wah. They would be fascinated by the touchscreens, and I would take them to their hotel, and we just had that relationship that way and we always had a very, not best friends, but a very friendly relationship. And we kind of kept in touch over the internet over the years, and when All In got announced, which was kind of the precursor to AEW, I was like, oh, I don’t have a lot going on. I’m pretty much over my pharmaceutical advertising job.
“I’m going to shoot my shot, and I reached out to The Bucks and they said, ‘All In is a Ring of Honor production. So we’re going to use Ring of Honor referees but just stay put and trust us.’ I said, okay, I will stay put, and I will trust you. And then on Christmas Eve 2018, which is seven days before AEW was announced on New Year’s Day, they just said, ‘We can’t tell you more now but save this date,’ and the date was May 25, 2019, which I’ll never forget.
“It was the first Double or Nothing in Las Vegas, and then on New Year’s Day, AEW was announced. Double or Nothing was announced, and I think you have a similar story. Aubrey was originally hired as a freelancer. We were on per show agreements. First was Double or Nothing 2019 and All Out 2019, and then we got added to Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen in Daytona Beach in Jacksonville, but before we even got to All Out, our per show agreements were enveloped into full-on contracts.”
On his office role in AEW handling travel: “I started as an assistant, and then I kind of took over the department in December of 2019, which was not a planned part of this job. I just kind of fell into it, and since then, I have taken on more responsibility and more people. When AEW started Double or Nothing, between talent and crew, you’re probably flying or putting up in hotels, maybe 70 or 80 people, and then when Dynamite started, it kind of became 90 – 95 – 100, but nowadays, between staff and talent, we are in the range of 130 – 140 – 150 every week.
“And while I don’t personally book all of them, I do oversee all 140 of those. Before we started this podcast, I was adjusting hotel lists for our next adventure, and it is strange because, Aubrey you probably feel this way sometimes too, the talent portion of your job might accommodate for a bigger dollar figure, but the office portion of your job, [there’s time and stress].
“And I’m happy to have both, and I am very appreciative of the full package because it allows me benefits as an office employee and all that good stuff and paternity leave when my son was born, mostly because of my office job, but timewise, we are more in a 90/10 situation on the travel vs. the refereeing side. But I’ve said this in seminars before, the more hats you wear, the harder it is to get rid of.”
On his favorite match to referee: “I’m gonna go with Moxley and Kingston, I Quit Match at Full Gear last November. That had a personal connection. Eddie and I started together 2002. His first day of training in Chikara, I was there when he walked in the fall of 2002, and I have known Eddie for a long time. And he took a very scenic route to AEW, but he ended up where he was supposed to be. And somehow some way, three months after signing his contract, he’s in the main event of a pay-per-view for the world championship against Jon Moxley.
“And he asked for me to be in the ring with him, and Moxley was fine with it. Tony [Khan] was fine with it. Everyone didn’t know it at the time, but we knew it at the time that Brodie [Lee] was very sick, and before the match, Eddie and I kind of had a moment. It was like, I don’t know how we got here, but here we are, and we dedicated to Alex (Larry Sweeney) and Brodie. And it was a night I’ll never forget. And I was sort of involved with the run up to the match a little bit.
“Eddie had gone to bat to get me promo time on Dynamite, which is a very strange way to do things, and it was just kind of the culmination of it’s exactly where Eddie was supposed to be. And the fact that Mox was so accommodating, and giving, and respects and understands that he’s talent, it was awesome. It was really awesome. Doing the world title match is a great responsibility and honor but doing it in the main event of a pay-per-view is an even bigger one.”
(h/t – Wrestling Inc)
