All Elite Wrestling has dealt with a plethora of extenuating circumstances that have drastically impacted the company, the two biggest of which have been injuries and visa issues. Top stars like Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Adam Cole have all gone down with freak accident injuries in recent months, resulting in storyline plans being significantly reshuffled. In the visa department, international stars like Rey Fenix and Bandido have both dealt with travel complications that have resulted in them missing time off of AEW programming.
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Visa Issues Delayed Recent AEW Debut
Those visa complications even impacted stars outside of the company.
Longtime professional wrestler Sarah Stock joined All Elite Wrestling this past March, joining the ranks as a producer and a coach. Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Stock shared that her AEW debut was actually put on pause for “about a year” due to visa issues.
“I was in Mexico at the time. I had been out of the ring for seven years, I hadn’t wrestled. I had made the decision to get back in the ring for three matches in Mexico. I’m not sure what sparked the interest, but it was shortly after I made that decision and went back to Mexico to prepare for those matches that AEW got in touch with me,” Stock said. “It all moved very quickly and then very slowly. Quickly in terms of that I really wanted to work with the company and we came to an agreement on things. The unfortunate part is, being a Canadian citizen, things aren’t as easy as starting to work. Rolling the red tape, getting visas, it was about a year after that conversation that I actually stepped foot through the doors in Winnipeg.”
Stock has been in the wrestling industry since 2002. Her most notable televised work came in TNA in the late 2000s into the early 2010s where she reigned as a Knockout Tag Team Champion With Taylor Wilde and Rosita (WWE’s Zelina Vega). Stock would pivot to a behind the scenes role in 2015, joining WWE as a developmental trainer.
“Obstacles kept coming up in that process. Thankfully, the AEW legal team and the law firm they work with to get visas were excellent in staying positive and keeping me positive,” Stock continued. “Because at that point, I stopped my whole life. I was done in the ring, I did these little matches in Mexico, and I’m going to get ready to go to work in AEW. I thought in a couple of months I would be there and ready to go. Everything stopped. It was limbo and frustration because I didn’t know if the visa would ever come through. When It finally did, it was the biggest relief. I’m so glad it all worked out.”
