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During his interview with Danny Limelight on the SHAK Wrestling YouTube Channel, Shakiel Mahjouri asked “The Radioactive Papi” about all sorts of different topics, from his thoughts on WWE, to his status in MLW and even his matches with Konosuke Takeshita and Kenny Omega, but the one question that rose above the rest and will surely catch the attention of fans came in the middle of their conversation: What happened to his relationship with AEW?
In case you are out of the know, for a time, Limelight was a fixture of AEW’s weekly product. He wrestled 24 matches on Dark or Dark Elevation, had a sit-down showcase interview with Paul Wight that highlighted the softer aspects of his personality, and even took part in a single match on AEW Dynamite, where he and The Varsity Blonds duo of Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison lost in a little over nine minutes to the team of Omega and The Good Brothers at AEW’s New Year’s Smash.
While Limelight was largely a loser during his tenure in AEW, dropping 22 of the 25, he rapidly became a fan favorite and looked like the sort of performer who could latch on long-term a la Aaron Solo, Alan Angels, Fuego Del Sol, and Pres10 Vance.
… except that didn’t happen. Limelight wrestled his final match on the June 5th edition of Dark in 2021 in a losing effort to Ethan Page and has been gone ever since, having to wrestle for MLW, NJPW Strong, and indie promotions across the country. What gives? What happened? Did the two sides have a massive following out that forever tainted their collective blood, or was it just business? Mahjouri asked just that, and Limelight provided the answers.
The door isn't closed on Danny Limelight returning to AEW.
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“What,” Majouri asked Limelight in the middle of their interview, “was the cause of at least the temporary split (with AEW?)”
“You know, just timing. There were some thing I needed to work on. Maturity. I take accountability when I’m wrong. There were certain things that I was doing – I was going out partying you know and the pandemic was still a thing. Juts certain maturity things that I needed to work on (with) how I carried my self (and) conducted myself. It wasn’t nothing bad, just certain things I needed to work on. They explained that to me and I said ‘thank you for the feedback and I’ll work on it and hopefully I’ll be back or, ya know, I’ll see you down the line.”
“You know, it was a real, it was… I was like ‘damn, it kind of felt like I fumbled the bag because I was there ever week pretty much but it was something I definitely needed to know. Because if I didn’t and no one corrected me or held me accountable for my actions then I maybe would have gotten in some real trouble. Maybe it wouldn’t have been a good departure, maybe it would have been ‘get this f*cking kid out of here,’ you know? I’m glad Christopher Daniels pulled me aside and let me know what’s going on and yeah, you know, we’ll see what goes on in the future.”
That is a very interesting, mature response to Majouri's question.
During the almost year Limelight was working for AEW, from October of 2020 through June of 2021, wrestling was still in a very weird place. Every single one of Limelight's matches were filmed from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, and there were more than a few occasions during his time in Tony Khan's company where shows, matches, and angles had to be changed substantially due to someone catching COVID or coming into contact with someone who had. If Limelight was going out to party in Jacksonville when a single infection could theoretically bring the show to a screeching halt, it would make sense that he would be asked to leave the AEW Galaxy, which was sort of like Olympic Villiage at the time, if he was putting the rest of the company at risk.
Has Limelight learned from his mistakes? Clearly so, he's worked for multiple promotions since, from MLW to NJPW Strong, and most recently Stanton, California, for VWE VenueMania, where the team of 5150 lost to Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Lil Cholo, and articulated his past issues to Majouri without any irony or malice in his voice. That newfound maturity will serve him well moving forward both in the wrestling ring, and in his burgeoning acting career, which includes booking a spot on the Netflix show “The Brothers Sun.” One way or another, the man known as Rivera in MLW will be back in the Limelight soon enough.
