Tom Pestock shared his post-WWE career plans during an appearance on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast. His WWE contract expired on November 1, 2024, concluding his 12-year tenure with the company.
I would love to go to New Japan, for multiple reasons. The door never closes with WWE, either. As far as AEW, their fans like AEW in the sense that it is its own entity and built from the ground up. I don’t want to be, if I want there, out of respect for that world, I wouldn’t want to be just another WWE guy that came in because they left WWE. I would rather go do New Japan for a year or more. Who know, maybe I just love it and I stay there for the rest of my wrestling career. If I ever did go that route, I would want to clear that, ‘Oh, he’s just a WWE guy coming over.’ Baron Corbin is dead, as far as we know. New name, new moniker, new character.
Pestock emphasized his passion for wrestling and discussed various opportunities, including interest from TNA Wrestling.
I love wrestling. I love the creativeness of it, the freedom, performing in front of an audience and getting that live feedback in the moment. There is nothing better. If I want to go into the movie world, I filmed a movie last week and it’ll be out in 2026. You have to wait for that. I like that instant gratification of a wrestling audience. You know in the moment what they’re feeling and how they’re feeling about it. Nothing beats that. It’s like being a rock star. It’s so cool and so fun. It’s what I love to do. I want to go here, here, and here. I want to go to New Japan. TNA has called. Maybe there is something there. NWA. I’m open to it all because I love wrestling and if I can go somewhere and be in front of fans. I know that I don’t want to sign a contract right now because I like this ability. I’m going to roam.