Have Two More AEW Stars Left the Company? (Update)

By Connor Casey

All Elite Wrestling has lost two more members of its roster if recent reports and behavior on Twitter are to be believed. Fans noticed on Tuesday that Alan Angels of the Dark Order had scrubbed all mentions of AEW from his Twitter profile, then wrote "Excited for what's next.. The 24-year-old first debuted with the company in April 2020 and within two months had joined the faction as "5." 

He last wrestled on AEW TV on the March 23 episode of Rampage, teaming with Ten to take on reDRagon in a losing effort. He has since popped up on AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation numerous times and his last match was on June 19 when he competed at the NJPW Strong Ignition event and lost to Aussie Open alongside Evil Uno in the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship Tournament. 

Angels' possible departure means Dark Order has lost yet another member since the start of the year, with Stu Grayson also having his contract expire back in early May. Evil Uno took to Twitter to declare the group is not dead, but fans also noticed that Chuck Taylor (who was being recruited by the faction on Being The Elite) had also scrubbed his Twitter of all tweets and any mention of AEW. "The Kentucky Gentlemen" hasn't wrestled in any capacity since mid-May, but there has been no confirmation yet over whether or not he's gone from the company too. Stay tuned for further updates.

Update: Fightful has confirmed with Angels that he is leaving the company and will be a free agent on July 1. He noted that he turned down a per-date deal, wanting to increase his stock on the independent scene.

Update: Taylor appeared on this week's AEW Dynamite alongside Orange Cassidy and Trent.

AEW President Tony Khan spoke with TV Insider back in February and mentioned that some contracts would not be renewed this year. Unlike in WWE, where wrestlers are often outright released with time still on their deals, AEW just waits for wrestlers' contracts to expire. 

"When we started a lot of people had contracts that were a couple of years long and a lot of them are coming up," Khan said. "I have really tried hard to be very considerate of the people on the roster, especially going through the pandemic. That encompassed a long period of time where we were still in our first year of television and going into our second. I kept a lot of people under contract even though I wasn't necessarily using them on television because I wanted them to still have paying work, which was hard to come by for wrestling during the pandemic where there weren't any independent shows. Really only two places were running and the other place was cutting people left and right. I did want to give some job security to people. Now with so many wrestlers coming in, I can't renew all the contracts. I've had to make some tough choices based on ability, fan response, or both. I try to maintain the best roster I can for the company and fans."

0comments
Start the Conversation

of