The 90-Day “No Compete” for all of the former WWE Superstars who were fired back on April 15 has officially expired. And while a handful of big names have already popped up in other promotions (namely Impact Wrestling), two big names have yet to find a new home — Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder) and Miro (Rusev). In a new interview with ESPN, AEW executive vice president Cody Rhodes addressed the possibility of AEW signing either man.
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“I think there are two free agents that are on a lot of people’s radar, that being Miro — formerly Rusev — and Matt Cardona, who was Zack Ryder,” Rhodes said. “Obviously, those free agents should be on any radar. They have literally drawn money. They have TV experience. They have high-profile experience. They have locker room experience. The pros heavily outweigh the cons. Those are two great free agents. I’m not going to go as far to say that if I had to sign anybody, those would be the two that I would sign. But I think they’re great free agents. I think if they have the passion for pro wrestling, they’re going to continue to succeed.
“Here’s the trick,” he added. “We only have a two-hour show. And a lot of our roster hasn’t even been fully realized or seen yet. I want to make sure we honor individuals like that. If you bring in a hot free agent, that means someone is going to lose a spot. That’s just the reality of it. In my capitalistic, cold nature that I have, I actually don’t mind that, because that makes everybody else step their game up. But you do want to do it fairly and responsibly. The best wrestlers, no matter where they came from, you’re going to want on your show.”
AEW has a number of ex-WWE stars on their roster already, including Rhodes, Chris Jericho, Dustin Rhodes, Brodie Lee, Jon Moxley, Shawn Spears, Jake Hager and PAC. However, most of them openly chose to ask for their releases from WWE.
Cardona has already teased the possibility of showing up on AEW via Rhodes’ open challenge for the TNT Championship. Miro hasn’t given any hints as to where he’ll go next, focussing more on his Twitch channel.
Here’s what AEW has planned for this week’s AEW Dynamite:
- AEW World Tag Team Championships: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. The Dark Order
- AEW TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Warhorse
- Tornado Tag Match: Jon Moxley & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks
- The Inner Circle vs. Orange Cassidy, The Best Friends, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus
- Hikaru Shida vs. Diamante
- MJF’s “State of the Industry”
