A few days before Fyter Fest, ITV Wrestling is offering a new spotlight on 2 AEW competitors, courtesy of Road to Fyter Fest episodes. Alex JeBailey, the founder of CEO Gaming, talks about his upcoming hardcore match with Michael Nakazawa and his training process. Private Party is AEW’s hottest new tag team who like to “work hard and party harder”. Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy will try to get a chance to advance to All Out for an opportunity at a first-round bye in the AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament.
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Alex JeBailey has always had a long history in the gaming world ever since I was a very young kid. At the age of eleven, he participated in a blockbuster video game challenge in the early 90s he ended up winning. “That’s when I knew that gaming was my biggest hobby and passion, “he says. About ten years ago he started hosting events and those events just kind of grew from there into what CEO is today.
In 2012, he started to draw the real-life similarities between professional wrestling and fighting games. A convention was created to find out who was the best of the best, but also finding out and presenting something entertaining for people to watch and enjoy. That first year, he’d actually just rented a wrestling ring as the stage to ensure it would look special and entertaining and give players an opportunity to kind of show off their personalities.
Seven years later, the wrestling ring is still there but now in a full-scale arena, with a live wrestling show at the event. “Wrestling has always been sort of a real-life video game, with the characters and the storytelling. Combining those worlds felt really natural,” he explains.
When he met Kenny Omega, JeBailey was inspired and wanted to learn, just to be a part of it in some way. He started to train, not to embarrass his new friend, but when trying to replicate a game dive kick, he landed on my ankle and ruptured his Achilles. For that opportunity of being a match, JeBailey pushed himself and made it.
He took this debut very seriously but he will have to wrestle with a boot on. “I didn’t get to show what I had learned and my full potential but this is something I think is gonna be very special. I’m gonna be ready for his oil all over the place”, confesses Jebailey, “just to have fun with it and entertain.” He’s very excited to be a part of the Buy-In pre-show and is decided not to mess it up or miss it for the world.
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“Growing up in Brooklyn has its ups and down. It definitely teaches you how to be tough and to take any criticism because it’s a rough neighbourhood out there.” Private Party are ready to fight and make their debut at Fyter Fest. Marq Quen lost friends because of drugs or jail but he protected himself from them to be able to become a wrestler, and a better person. Isiah Kassidy remembers his friends laughing at him because he was saying he wanted to be a professional wrestler. For him, that dream was not fake.
Despite being surrounded by pressure, he went to House of Glory wrestling school and met Marq Quen. Both were fans of Jeff Hardy and they clicked. They trained together and they found their vibe, helped by Amazing Red. Marq Quen calls him a father figure and an innovator. Isiah Kassidy says he is one of the greatest wrestlers because of what he’s done to his business and how he impacted a lot of people.
They were contacted by AEW “the perfect moment” because right next to their training. Kassidy’s energy was so high. Marq Quen adds, “We felt like this age is for us, we felt like everything we worked hard for, we made it.” His trust in Kassidy is based on a friendly competition but only on the possibility to help each other in a match. They feel safe in working together.
Kassidy adds about Quen, “His mind is way too in advance, like his creative ability, the stuff that he thinks of, cool moves that he thinks of. He’s the main part of Private Party, he’s the brain.” Private Party’s only motto is to make people smile while doing their job. They want to make the fans feel they’re invited to the party. Work hard, party harder, as Quen says. Kassidy adds, “When you go to a party, your main objective is having fun and having a good time, so we apply that rule to professional wrestling and real life.”
Fyter Fest will live stream for free on B/R Live in the USA and on Fite TV in the UK for £8.99 and in Ireland for €9.99, respectively. Before the live PPV event begins at 1.30 AM BST, Sunday, June 30, the hour-long pre-show special will stream for free on AEW’s official YouTube channel at 12.30 AM BST.
All pics and videos courtesy of AEW and ITV Wrestling