Upon its inception, All Elite Wrestling was the end of a one-way street when it came to talent migration. Within its first two years of existence, AEW brought in former WWE titleholders like Jon Moxley, FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler), Christian Cage, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, and Adam Cole while simultaneously retaining the bulk of its roster. That changed in April 2022, when co-founder Cody Rhodes jumped ship to WWE after his AEW contract expired. Rhodes was followed by Brian Pillman Jr. (WWE NXT’s Lexis King), Shawn Spears, Jade Cargill, and Ethan Page in the years that followed.
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Another aspect of talent migration that has shifted has been bidding wars. Gone are the days of WWE being the only show in town where talent can make the best living, as AEW has been able to out-bit the sports-entertainment giant when it came to talent like Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, and Mercedes Moné. That’s not to say that AEW is undefeated in bidding battles, as the young company failed to acquire recent free agents like Stephanie Vaquer and Motor City Machine Guns.
Report: AEW Introducing New WWE Block Clause
AEW is working to put an extra lock on the Forbidden Door.
As reported by Fightful Select, AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling sources are of the belief that when non-contracted talent work future co-promoted shows they would have to reach an agreement “to not immediately go to WWE.” This has yet to be confirmed within the company.
This report ultimately stems from the situation that unfolded with Stephanie Vaquer earlier this summer. Back in June, Vaquer faced Mercedes Moné at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door in a match for all the gold. Vaquer put her NJPW STRONG Women’s Title on the line while Moné defended her AEW TBS Championship. Moné emerged victorious and has reigned as a dual-champion ever since.
Vaquer, who was only under contract to CMLL at the time, impressed enough in that bout to get offered an AEW contract. At the same time, Vaquer was fielding offers from WWE. She ultimately decided to take her talents to WWE, signing with the sports-entertainment giant just 10 days after her AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door match. Vaquer had to get out of her CMLL contract in order to put pen to paper with WWE, and had to vacate both the CMLL World Women’s Title and CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Championship as a result.
Prior to Vaquer, AEW had similar situations happen with Ben Carter (WWE NXT‘s Nathan Frazier) and Dragon Lee. The English star worked a couple of matches for AEW in Fall 2020, including an AEW Dynamite match against Scorpio Sky, but work visa issues prevented him from getting paid. That December, Carter signed with WWE. Today, he reigns as one-half of the NXT Tag Team Champions. Lee wrestled one match for AEW, teaming with brother RUSH and Andrade El Idolo in a losing effort to Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks in Summer 2022. After the bell, RUSH and Andrade attacked Lee, removing his mask, seemingly setting up an AEW feud that ultimately never came to fruition. Like Carter, Lee also signed with WWE that December.
Stay tuned to ComicBook for updates on this AEW contract clause.
