In a recent interview with Adrian Hernandez, Tom Lawlor conveyed his hopes to compete in AEW, where he was originally supposed to face Adam Cole at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 before that match was canceled due to Cole’s health issues.
Lawlor noted that his primary target is Eddie Kingston and his NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship.
Kingston currently holds the NJPW STRONG Openweight Title and ROH World Title simultaneously.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his AEW Forbidden Door bout with Adam Cole getting cancelled: “I mean I haven’t gotten a match with Adam Cole. I haven’t been back on AEW TV. I haven’t got a match there against anybody. So it sucks, right. I was set up for what would have been the biggest opportunity of my pro wrestling career in front of thousands of people live, in front of maybe a 100,000 people on pay-per-view. Instead, I got to go out there and wrestle, but it was a dark match. Nobody saw it. I got the win. Very disappointing. It all came together last minute, so it was whirlwind anyways, but then to have it end kind of like that was just a kick in the nuts,”
On wanting to face Eddie Kingston in AEW for the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship: “I’m a fan of AEW, I’m a fan of all pro wrestling. what I really want is that New Japan STRONG Title back. I keep seeing it on AEW TV around the waist of Eddie Kingston, who only shows up on AEW TV now. He just had a feud over the ROH Title with a guy who, he was fighting because that guy left the independent scene high and dry, didn’t finish up his commitments. Now, Eddie Kingston takes himself off the road and is just defending that belt in AEW. It makes me sick. What I did, when I was the champ, was I increased my schedule. I started wrestling more places. It’s sad to see what that title’s become. Hopefully, Tony Khan is gonna man up and give me the match that I deserve. I also haven’t gotten any credit for Adam Cole’s injury. He had an injured leg? That’s exactly what I attacked when I went after him, and he hasn’t been the same sense. Where’s my credit? I get none.”
