Bear Bronson: AEW saw Iron Savages as just ‘an enhancement thing’

Bear Bronson spoke about his time in AEW and what’s next for his career during an appearance on the Wrestling Junkies podcast.

Bronson’s AEW contract expired on June 1 and was not renewed, making the former member of the Iron Savages a free agent. He says he grew frustrated with his position in the company and being told he should just be grateful to be used at all.

“I’m not going to say I ever fell out of love with wrestling but I do believe I hit a point in AEW where I felt complacent, just with the role that we were given. And when you’re surrounded by a lot of people that pressure you to just be grateful, be grateful you’re getting used for that minute and 30 seconds, you kind of put yourself in this mode of forcing yourself to be happy with what you’re doing when I’m looking at my best friends on top of the world becoming world champions and even my peers in the locker room chasing the things they want. But I have a lot of people looking down on me saying, ‘Just be happy you’re used,’ that kind of gets to you over time.”

Bronson also spoke about being inspired by Mike Santana’s decision to leave AEW after growing unhappy with his role in the company.

“Another person who was a huge inspiration along the way was Mike Santana. We watched Mike Santana leave AEW, even though this guy was in the Inner Circle at one point, he was doing great but as time went on things just… I’m sure many people were in his ear, ‘Dude, just be grateful, be grateful for where you are’ and he had the balls to be like, ‘No, this isn’t what I want, I want more than this.'”

Bronson says Santana told him recently, “You’re not starting from square one, you’re starting from experience.”

“That stuck with me like crazy,” Bronson said.

He also shared that he spoke with someone in AEW management about the possibility of the Iron Savages moving up the card and was told the act was only seen as enhancement talent.

“I asked them, ‘Is this something that can grow bigger? Over the next year, can we rise up the card?’ They were very honest with us. Somebody got back to me and said, ‘No, they just see this as an enhancement thing.’ And that’s where I was like, ‘Oh man, I gotta get the f— out of here.'”

He continued, “When I got into wrestling, when I started as a wrestler, your dream isn’t to be the guy that is already in the ring and loses in 30 seconds, your dream is to main event WrestleMania. Your dream is to be a star, be a top guy, be the best performer you can possibly be. So when they told me that, it was like sirens went off in my head.”

“Again, that’s no knock on them either. They have a lot of signed people, they have a lot of people they need to cater to. Tony Khan and AEW aren’t sitting at home thinking about Bear Bronson. So I don’t blame them. That’s not their fault.”

Bronson has recently performed for promotions such as Beyond Wrestling, Limitless Wrestling, C4, and Wrestling Open. His former tag partner, Bear Boulder, was released by AEW in January following his arrest for battery by strangulation.

Bronson’s full appearance on the Wrestling Junkies podcast is available below: