Reports broke back in mid-August that WWE had attempted to contact at least one AEW star about the status of their contract. This has since led to numerous other reports and speculation about who is and isn’t trying to leave AEW and return to WWE, amplified by Malakai Black’s departure from the company and Buddy Matthews’ rumored departure from this past weekend. Fightful Select‘s Sean Ross Sapp posted an update on Monday addressing many of those rumors, directly naming a handful of stars.ย
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The first was Swerve Strickland, who was apparently contacted to rejoin WWE as a member of the reformed Hit Row faction. He apparently had no interest and referred the WWE contact to his attorney. It was also noted that Keith Lee wasn’t contacted despite recent rumors.ย
Miro was also brought up, with Sapp noting it’s unclear if he has been contacted or not but noted he hasn’t requested his release. A separate report from Wrestling Observer‘s Dave Meltzer indicated he has no desire to return to the company at this time.ย
“Miro does not want to go back. The only guys that really want to go back are the ones who have significant others with the other company,” Meltzer said (h/t WrestleTalk).
Sapp previously reported FTR was contacted but had no update on the matter. As for Black and Matthews, Sapp wrote, “At least one AEW source believes that we’ll end up seeing Buddy Matthews and Malakai Black back in the company within a few months, and said that AEW had no intent of releasing Black to go elsewhere last month.”
Finally, Sapp addressed the rumor that Bobby Fish, who left AEW over disputes regarding a new contract and has since debuted for Impact Wrestling, attempted to get Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly to leave the company as well. AEW sources denied the rumor and WWE claims there have been no negotiations with Fish. Cole is currently under a long-term contract with AEW while O’Reilly recent underwent neck fusion.
Fresh off last week’s Grand Slam event, AEW has already started announcing matches for this week’s AEW Dynamite. Check out the card so far below:
- AEW World Championship Eliminator Match: Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson
- ROH World Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Bandido
- Promos from Saraya & MJF
