Wheeler Yuta has discussed his rivalry with fellow Death Riders member Daniel Garcia, which began even before they joined AEW.
Garcia and Yuta both came through the indies before making a name for themselves in AEW, which the latter discussed on “The Wrestling Classic” podcast.
“It’s fun to sort of continue that competition, you know. Even when we were on the independents, I kind of always looked at like what he was doing, and I’m sure he looked at what I was doing, and we always felt like we were sort of like modern contemporaries. We didn’t actually wrestle much on the independents. It might have just been that one time that we wrestled for an hour-long draw when I was the IWTV champion,” he recalled.
Yuta was signed by AEW first, but Garcia closely followed him to the promotion after featuring in AEW as an unsigned talent. While Garcia joined the Jericho Appreciation Society, Yuta made his way to the Blackpool Combat Club, a contrast that the latter touched upon by comparing their journeys to competing for rival teams.
“We’re looking at each other, and then it almost felt like we get to AEW and then, you know, he goes to the Jericho Appreciation Society, I go to Blackpool Combat Club. It almost felt like we were like guys that played at rival colleges, and now we just got drafted to the majors, but we got drafted to rival teams. That’s sort of what it felt like. So, we’ve always had this thing where we’re, you know, competing against each other. But, I think it’s just made the both of us better. It’s just made us better wrestlers. And now that we’re on the same side, maybe we’ll even develop, you know, more of a friendship, I guess, instead of just competing with each other.”
Yuta stated that facing Garcia helped motivate him to perform at a higher level. Since Garcia joined the Death Riders earlier this year, the two have teamed together in AEW and ROH, as well as in the Mexican promotion CMLL.
