Stokely Hathaway Comments On Wrestling HOOK In AEW Years After Watching Taz In ECW

Stokely Hathaway has proven time and again he can take a beating. The comically villainous AEW manager has often paid the price for barking up the wrong tree on "AEW Dynamite" each week, but one recent instance that Hathaway said stands out in particular for him is when FTW Champion HOOK got his hands on The Firm's mouthpiece.

"It was pretty surreal, because I remember watching Taz in ECW and watching his WWF debut during the Royal Rumble and years later, I'm wrestling his son, it's just bizarre," Hathaway said on "Talk Is Jericho" recently, noting the importance his rivalry with HOOK had on The Firm's momentum in AEW. "I'm very appreciative of that feud ... because I think it saved us." HOOK got the opportunity to knock Hathaway around the squared circle back in March in a no disqualification match that lasted a mere three minutes.

This marked Hathaway's first official match on AEW television, and his first time competing since 2019. Hathaway has primarily appeared for AEW in a managerial role since he joined the promotion at Double or Nothing 2022. Hathaway further explained to his AEW colleague Chris Jericho that he didn't take the opportunity for granted. "As you know, there's not a lot of real estate on Wednesdays," Hathaway told Jericho. "It's hard to get a match. Yes, Tony [Khan] has hired, what, 200-300 people, so it's one of those things where once you're given that opportunity, you have to knock it out of the park."