KJ Orso is opening up about his experience in AEW, revealing that he felt overlooked and underutilized while working as an ‘All-Elite’ talent. On Busted Open Radio, Orso, who competed as Fuego Del Sol, didn’t shy away from naming Tony Khan as a cause of his frustrations.
“I don’t think Tony Khan ever had any true plans for me. I think the fanfare and the respect I earned from the locker room almost forced his hand to signing me.”
Orso would have glimmers of potential in AEW, including appearing on-screen alongside the likes of Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara. Despite this, Orso summarized that he only received work if others wanted it, and that “there was no real plan for me ever.”
Realizing he was in a rut, Orso pitched competing in Japan or even unmasking and doing something entirely different to what hadn’t been working. None of these ideas were followed up on by Khan, leaving him feeling stifled creatively.
“I really do feel that I had become a lovable loser in a sense, and there’s a stench I’ve been dying to get rid of since leaving AEW.”
Orso unmasked and shed his Fuego Del Sol identity at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 9, an act he’d wished to do years earlier. Now competing under his real name, K.J. Orso is determined to redefine himself and showcase the version of himself that AEW never fully embraced.