A popular AEW star’s deal is expiring later this year, and a new report states that he is interested in exploring free agency once his deal is up. That star is the young phenom Hook, who has been one of AEW’s rising stars since his debut, and the report comes from SEScoops. The report goes on to say that a source familiar with WWE’s recruitment strategy commented “I can see WWE clearly being interested in him.” Whether that comes to pass or not remains to be seen, but if the report is accurate, Hook possibly moving to another company is a mighty big deal, and his addition would be a boost for any roster.
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Hook is the son of current AEW commentator and former WWE and ECW star Taz, which has been played up a lot during Hook’s run in AEW thus far. Hook currently holds the FTW Championship, which was introduced by Taz during his ECW days. Hook has been associated with the Title pretty much since his AEW debut, and is currently holding it for the second time.
Hook is currently in a program with Chris Jericho, who has taken to attempting to mentor Hook by both teaming up with him and facing him as an opponent at various times. Right now Shibata has found himself in that program as well, and at some point Jericho and Hook will likely be true adversaries, leading to some sort of actual feud between the two.
If Hook does decide to depart AEW, he would certainly have multiple suitors, including TNA, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and WWE. Hook has found success in various tag teams during his run as well as individual success, and he would bring a worthwhile addition to any of those rosters. Plus, there are several dream-match scenarios available in all three.
That said, there’s still plenty for him to do in AEW. Hook hasn’t held a Title outside of the FTW Championship during his run to this point, which seems like a natural next step either as part of a Tag Team or as an individual. Hook did content for the AEW World Championship earlier this year against Samoa Joe, but Joe retained. Perhaps a rematch is set to happen down the line, but Joe will have to first get past Swerve Strickland at AEW Dynasty.
There’s also the possibility of Hook moving to Ring of Honor to attain some Title gold, but that doesn’t seem as likely. You could even have him re-team with someone like Danhausen to win the Tag Team Championships, but that’s just all conjecture at this point.
Where do you want to see Hook land in free agency? Let us know in the comments!
