EXCLUSIVE: Anthony Bowens reveals twists and turns of establishing his new character post-Acclaimed breakup, why fourth vignette with Castor was scrapped

AEW wrestler Anthony Bowens had an idea for the direction he wanted his character to go in once he parted ways with Max Caster and The Acclaimed split, but it hasn’t been a smooth landing in terms of getting to the destination he envisioned for what his new persona would look like on AEW TV after The Acclaimed split up.

Bowens opened up about the ideas he had for what his character would be like after The Acclaimed and admitted there have been a lot of twists and turns to get it established. “This has kind of been the topic of discussion,” said Bowens in a new exclusive interview on Radican Worldwide available now for PWTorch VIP members ahead of AEW’s Double or Nothing PPV on May 24. “I’ve been vague, but not vague all day on this media day. So, like, it’s, there’s a lot there’s a lot or keep saying there’s been a, there was a lot of twists and turns along the way, you know?

“There was a pretty set plan of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to present myself coming back as this corny kind of Rocky Maivia 1996 superhero that was kind of full of himself and annoying and just wasn’t getting the job done and blaming it on everyone but himself. And then eventually the Pride of Pro Wrestling as a character, as a man that does everything for this company and for this industry, but all the love and admiration go to other people.”

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Bowens’s idea for his character was that he would get frustrated seeing others who his character saw as bad guys getting the love from the fans that his character desired. “It seems to go to Max Caster,” said Bowens. This is a person that Max, this is a person that everyone hated. They wanted him fired. They wanted him banned from Twitter. But now your’re doing his chant, but where’s the love for the Pride of Pro Wrestling?

“And you come back as a hero and slowly see him descend into madness, cause there different avenues I wanted to go, but think kind of like 1999 Kurt Angle, where’s he’s an Olympic gold medalist and in theory, that should be the biggest babyface. But everyone, all the love went to everybody else, you know?

“And that character is confused as to why you’re cheering for Hangman (Page) or Adam Cole, you know? Adam Cole dressed up as a devil, you know? And made his friends dress up as…as demons and threw me through a glass window, which could have ended my career.”

Bowens clarified that he loves Cole as a person, but that his character would get frustrated with Cole’s character being cheered. “But, I mean, I love Adam as a person, you know that. But in terms of the character, why would you cheer that guy? That guy’s crazy. That guy should be in a mental institution.”

Bowens said when he was trying to get that version of his character on track in AEW, there was a creative switch that saw AEW owner Tony Khan trying to get The Acclaimed back together as a tag team with a series of team-building vignettes. “You’re supposed to love me, so that’s kind of where that was going and then all of the sudden, there was a creative switch,” said Bowens. “And then we’re teasing stuff with The Acclaimed. We did those, you brought it up, those really fun team-building videos, which were all improv, maybe except for a few minor things that we had Fallah Bahh make an appearance and obviously, you know, put it in there, he wasn’t just sitting there as Santa Claus on the side of New York City.”

The vignettes were done with just Bowens, Caster, and their camera guy together coming up with material on their own. Bowens said that although three vignettes ended up being released, there plans for another one that got scrapped. “But we literally were just sitting there like ‘Let’s just do these fun videos,’” said Bowens. “Us, me, Max and Zane, our camera guy. And he’s an incredible editor. He made them all look like episodes of The Office.

“We did, Tony made us say three nice things about each other. We did a scavenger hunt throughout New York City. We set up the arena, which was all real. We had a fourth one planned. I’ll give you the scoop. We had a fourth one planned, which probably would’ve been my favorite. We were gonna do Tony sends us into the wilderness to survive.

“And we had a campsite booked and they were gonna send us a camera crew and Max and I would have shown up with three things each to survive. And we wouldn’t know which, what things we brought, and we would camp all night and film it and see what would happen.

“It ended up snowing, so that ended up getting cancelled. Then there was another creative shift. The next thing you know, I’m in The Opps. But you know it was an interesting time. I wish it would’ve went differently, ‘cause a lot of the stuff that we were saying to each other in those promos, Max and I, over the summer was real.

“And we were vague because we hoped a lot of it would end up on TV. It just kinda remained on socials, which is why I don’t think people understood what was happening. But it was very real and there was a lot of meat on the bone there, but we’ll never know at this moment ‘cause now I’m in The Opps.”

Although Bowens is committed to seeing where his character goes as a member of The Opps, he isn’t closing the door on picking things back up with Caster if he returns to TV. “Or if he pops up again, maybe there’s a faction here that he aligns with and maybe we’ll start all over again,” said Bowens. “But for now, I am completely focused on , now that I have the opportunity to truly build what The pride of Pro Wrestling is here with The Opps, I’m very focused on that and trying to make sure that goes the way I want it to.”

The Opps (Anthony Bowens & Katsuyori Shibata & Hook) face The Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli & Anthony Garcia & Wheeler Yuta) at the Double or Nothing PPV Buy In show.

NOTE: Sign up here and GO VIP to listen to Anthony Bowens’s exclusive interview on Radican Worldwide talking about ahead of the AEW Double or Nothing PPV on May 24. Double or Nothing will be available on most PPV providers, HBO Max, and PPV.com. You can watch the Buy In pre-show for free on HBO Max or YouTube.