Much of the top brass at All Elite Wrestling are veteran talent who made their names in other promotions, but that’s not to say that the young company has not created a couple of its own main event-caliber stars. AEW World Champion MJF, AEW Trios Champions The Acclaimed, and former AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy all come to mind when it comes to independent talent that significantly raised their stock on the AEW platform. That said, few can claim the “homegrown” label as strongly as Jade Cargill. The longest-reigning champion in AEW history, Cargill did most of her wrestling training at AEW’s unofficial development school, the Nightmare Factory, all while under AEW contract. Just around a year after beginning to run the ropes, Cargill was inserted into a high-level feud with Cody Rhodes on AEW TV.
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After that mixed tag match went down, Cargill pursued a singles career where she dominated the competition, boasting an undefeated streak that stretched for multiple years. She rode that momentum to becoming the inaugural AEW TBS Champion and reigned with that title for 508 days. Despite having just returned to the company last week, it looks like Cargill is already on her way out.
Jade Cargill Leaving AEW For WWE
As reported by Fightful Select, Jade Cargill has finished up with AEW.
Cargill ended her multi-month absence from AEW TV this past Saturday when she confronted AEW TBS Champion Kris Statlander on AEW Collision. This set up a match between the two for this Friday’s AEW Rampage which was taped following Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite.
WARNING – Spoilers for Friday’s AEW Rampage.
Cargill did lose clean to Statlander in their AEW Rampage match, further pointing to her imminent AEW departure.
According to sources from both AEW and WWE, the mutual belief is that she is heading to WWE. There is no word on an official offer from WWE to Cargill being made nor is there any specification on how long Cargill has left on her AEW contract.
Insider account BWE added to this story by noting that Cargill “would start on the main roster” once she signs with WWE. This would put Cargill in rare company as most experienced free agents still do an NXT stint before working on Monday Night Raw or WWE SmackDown, main event talent like Drew McIntyre and Shinsuke Nakamura being examples. Cargill would join the likes of AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes as stars that bypassed developmental when WWE came calling.
Speaking of Rhodes, fans have speculated that the American Nightmare could play a role in Cargill’s WWE debut. When Rhodes brought Jey Uso to Monday Night Raw, it came at the cost of someone being traded to WWE SmackDown. Considering Rhodes’s wrestling school, the Nightmare Factory, helped train Cargill, he does have a personal connection to the former AEW TBS Champion that could be used in this storyline.
