All Elite Wrestling president Tony Khan spoke with DAZN this week ahead of Wednesday’s annual Winter is Coming special. Last year’s event wound up being one of the most pivotal episodes of AEW Dynamite of 2020, as Kenny Omega turned heel and took the AEW World Championship with him to Impact Wrestling while “The Icon” Sting made his first appearance in the company. Khan teased the idea of more free agents popping up in AEW before 2021 comes to a close, saying it could happen at Winter is Coming, the Holiday Bash 2021 episodes of AEW Dynamite and Rampage (Dec. 22 and 25) or the final Dynamite on TNT on Dec. 29. Check out seven possible free agents who could make the jump in the list below!
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“I’m more than aware that there’s a number of free agents out there, wrestlers I admire too, but I’ve got to say that you just have to keep watching over these next few weeks and not just ‘Winter is Coming,’” Khan said. “There’s the ‘Holiday Bash’ special from Greensboro, North Carolina, that includes the Christmas Day ‘Rampage.’ We have the last ever episode on TNT followed by the debut episode on TBS. There’s ‘Battle of the Belts’ coming in January. I want AEW to run shows that you just can’t miss, and I think these next few weeks are going to be really exciting for fans of wrestling.”
Bray Wyatt (Windham)
Wyatt (now going by Windham) has been a free agent for a little while now. But other than confirmation that he’s working with Jason Baker on a horror film, there haven’t been any clues about what the former WWE Champion might do next. Both Khan and Cody Rhodes have spoken incredibly high of him in the past and Wyatt might jump at the chance to work in an environment that embraces creative freedom.
Jonathan Gresham
Fresh off winning the Ring of Honor World Championship at Final Battle, Gresham immediately called out Bryan Danielson and CM Punk in an interview with Sports Illustrated. And those two just so happen to work for AEW.
“As champion, it is up to me to keep the spirit and the essence of Ring of Honor alive,” Gresham said. “I will preserve and protect Pure wrestling as Ring of Honor world champion. I am going to make this championship the best wrestling title in the world. In order to do that, I need to wrestle two men who helped make the Ring of Honor title the best in the world: Bryan Danielson and CM Punk.
“At one time, being the Ring of Honor champion meant that you were the world’s best professional wrestler. But that moniker was taken away, and my mission is to restore honor to the title. I need to step in the ring with those two men. Until then, I’ll take on all challengers for the Ring of Honor title. I plan on defending the title, but I will only defend it under Pure professional wrestling rules, which is the way it always should have been.”
Kyle O’Reilly
O’Reilly is, by all accounts, free to sign wherever he’d like following his departure from NXT last week. Coming to AEW seems like a no-brainer considering its focus on in-ring work, a possible reunion of reDRagon with Bobby Fish and the potential reformation of the Undisputed Era (though it’s just as likely O’Reilly reignites his feud with Cole rather than set himself up for yet another betrayal).
Control Your Narrative
Ring of Honor’s Final Battle saw EC3 seemingly launch his own faction as a group of wrestlers (including Braun Strowman, now going by Titan, as Wesley Blake) hit the ring wearing “Control Your Narrative” shirts and beat up Dak Draper, Eli Isom and Brian Johnson. If Carter were to come to AEW, it might be possible that he brings a few names from his Free The Narrative events along with him.
Brody King
Malakai Black has recently teased expanding his House of Black into a full-blown faction, and ROH star Brody King seems like the obvious first choice. Black and King are currently working together as the Kings of the Black Throne tag team in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and have held the PWG World Tag Team Championships for nearly three months.
Deonna Purrazzo
Deonna Purrazzo has been outspoken about how the “Forbidden Door” between AEW and Impact Wrestling didn’t extend to women, despite the fact that she and Dr. Britt Baker have been pushing for matches as either rivals or a tag team. Purrazzo appeared at Final Battle this past weekend and seems to be starting her own “Belt Collector” gimmick, as she currently pursuing both Rok-C’s ROH Women’s World Championship and Mickie James’ Knockouts Championship while already holding AAA’s Reina del Reinas title.
The Briscoes
“Dem Boys” were backstage at a recent episode of AEW Dynamite and were confronted by FTR during Final Battle. If the pair were to show up, it’d mean that yet another set of tag team championships would be floating around the roster on top of the AEW and AAA World Tag Team Championships.
