The close friends are better known as the Elite – Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Adam Page, and sometimes Kenny Omega – and the announcement they made rattled the pro wrestling industry from top to bottom; they were starting their own promotion in the United States.
The big announcement instantly sent ripples through the world of sports entertainment. At least two WWE wrestlers – Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder – requested their releases. Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling had to scramble to fill now empty slots on their G1 super show at Madison Square Garden.
And of course, the internet wrestling community erupted into massive bouts of speculation as to which wrestlers would be signed. As the AEW slowly builds up their roster, which includes the legendary Chris Jericho and ‘best wrestler in the world’ Kenny Omega, it’s important to note who will NOT be signing with AEW just as much as who will.
Here are seven wrestlers who you probably won’t see in an AEW ring.
#1 Jack Hager
Jack Swagger was identified as a blue chipper upon his arrival in WWE. He was quickly pushed to the main event spot on WWE’s short-lived ECW revival, where he defeated Christian for the ECW World Championship.
Swagger quickly outgrew ECW and was brought up to the main roster. However, in spite of winning the WWE World title his career fizzled out and he slid down the card to become a mere gatekeeper for the main event.
Things picked up a bit for him when he was assigned Zeb Coulter as his manager and developed the “We the People” gimmick. Swagger became United States Champion but seemed destined to rise no further than the mid-card.
Swagger grew frustrated and requested his release because he wanted to pursue MMA. He also wrestled for Lucha Underground season three and became their world champion. Because of his successful MMA debut for Bellator and his obligations to Lucha Underground–if they are renewed for another season–it’s unlikely Swagger will wind up wrestling for AEW.
#2 Ryback
Ryback was on the WWE’s roster from as early as 2004, where he was working for their developmental territories. He would make his main roster debut along with his fellow NXT hopefuls, led by Wade Barrett, and become the Nexus.
Nexus, despite being quite over with the crowd, wasn’t fated to last long, and Ryback was put on the shelf with a badly broken leg.
When he finally returned, he ditched the Skip Sheffield gimmick–which had actually been quite popular–and adopted a character so derivative of Bill Goldberg’s that people chanted GOLDBERG during his matches.
Ryback was released from the WWE and has been anything but silent about it since. He works the independent scene and has name recognition, but his ring style simply isn’t what All Elite Wrestling is looking for. Ryback most likely will not be working for AEW in the future.
#3 Kota Ibushi
Kota Ibushi is, on paper, everything that All Elite Wrestling looks for in a signee; athletic experienced and possessed of the technical yet hard-hitting Japanese Strong Style emulated the Elite.
Better yet, he’s a close personal friend of AEW star Kenny Omega, as the tandem teamed for years as the Golden Lovers. However, you won’t be seeing Kota Ibushi in an AEW ring because he has chosen, for the time, to remain with NJPW.
His decision had nothing to do with money, as you can see from this quote:
So, Kota Ibushi will not be signing with AEW…at least, not yet.
#4 The Undertaker
Mark Calloway, the wrestler who has portrayed the Undertaker character for more than two decades, has been in the wrestling business for a very long time under a variety of different gimmicks.
In his early days, he wore a mask and called himself Texas Red. Then he became an ex-military special forces veteran The Punisher – no relation to the Marvel character–and again he was rebranded as Mean Mark Callous in WCW.
But when he became the Deadman, the gimmick struck gold. For whatever reason, Calloway and the Undertaker are a perfect match. It’s the perfect match which means you won’t be seeing Undertaker in AEW.
Calloway couldn’t use the Undertaker character in other promotions because it is a trademark of WWE. Without his famous deadman gimmick, Undertaker is just an ageing part-time wrestler whose career has been semi-over for years. It’s hard to imagine him having any interest in working for AEW unless it was in a backstage producer capacity.
#5 Joey Ryan
Independent and Lucha Underground star Joey Ryan is no stranger to the Elite; he’s appeared on their podcast and it is well known he is on good terms with the Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes.
Ryan made his name by using a very… creative… part of his anatomy as an offensive weapon. While Jim Cornette rages on, Ryan continues to be a strong player in the independent scene based upon this unique offence, but to be fair he’s an excellent ring technician as well and would probably do well in All Elite Wrestling.
So why isn’t he signing? It seems that Lucha Underground still has him under contract, and while the promotion awaits its renewal at the El Rey network, Ryan is unable to sign with the AEW promotion and has stated he would prefer working for Lucha Underground if he had to make a choice between them.
#6 Dalton Castle
You might think that an amateur wrestling career and training as a DJ might be the perfect combination to become a pro wrestler, and in the case of Dalton Castle, you’d be right.
Dalton was brought into the Ring of Honor Top Prospect tournament as a one-off opponent for Ashley Sixx, a man whom ROH officials had assumed would be getting the cheers. Instead, fans popped huge for Castle just based on his entrance. Then they fell in love with him for his supreme technical wrestling and athletic ability.
Dalton Castle managed to capture the Ring of Honor World title in record time and was a capable champion. However, a back injury made him take some time off, and he lost the strap to Jay Lethal. With his contract coming up later this year, speculation has begun that Castle will jump ship.
According to rumor, WWE is quite heavily interested in Castle’s services, and given the choice between the two we’re betting Dalton Castle will sign with WWE or re-sign with Ring of Honor, where he has been treated well, rather than joining AEW, a promotion which still doesn’t have a television deal set as of yet.
#7 John Cena
While these days John Cena splits his time between the WWE and Hollywood fame, he spent the better part of the last two decades as WWE’s top star.
John Cena is the ‘measuring stick,’ the ‘face that runs the place,’ and the master of Hustle Loyalty and Respect. However, it’s unlikely that he would ever join the AEW promotion for a variety of reasons.
First and foremost, John Cena is over forty and would be quite expensive. Shelling out a lot of money for a star whose best days are behind them physically may not make sense to AEW’s bean counters.
Second, John Cena represents a different kind of wrestling style than what AEW is going for. John is a US standard worker with power moves, and while his fundamentals are as sound as anyone’s in the business his move set simply isn’t as deep as, say, Kenny Omega.
Finally, Cena seems set to enjoy at least some of the same success as the Rock has already had in Hollywood. Putting his body on the line for an upstart wrestling promotion may not make much sense to John at this stage of his multiple careers.
There you have it; Seven wrestlers who won’t be signing with AEW. Questions or comments? Please leave them below the article and as always thanks for reading!
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