Tony Khan is not too pleased about WWE trying to poach away his AEW talent.
Speaking on the matter publically during his pre-All Out press tour, the multi-hyphenate publically addressed the tampering rumors that were reportedly also discussed at the company's backstage meeting, as passed along by TJR Wrestling.
“There was one issue, that had come up, that people have seen stuff written about and I don’t really want to get into it, but if someone asked me, I guess I would get into it a little more, but there were issues the talent had come to us about and said, ‘I think you should probably know about.’
Based on the talent coming to us and telling us that and giving us their feedback and telling us stuff that happened with them, to them, both in the company and things happening outside the company, from other companies even, based on what the talent was saying to us, we thought it was good to have a meeting with everybody.
I thought the meeting went really well, certainly this week was really a positive week of television and good energy going into the pay-per-view.”
Well, as it turns out, Khan's vague comments have been extrapolated upon, as Dave Meltzer detailed in the latest issue of The Wrestling Observer.
“What we do know is that Black was one of the people WWE reached out to even though he had signed a five-year deal with AEW,” Meltzer wrote. “When Paul Levesque took over from Vince McMahon, WWE contacted a number of former WWE talents that were working there that either had left on their own or that Vince McMahon had fired. Black was not the only person to ask for his release at the time.”
Oh snap, things are getting real indeed but wait, it actually gets more interesting. That's right, according to Ryan Frederick, who also writes for The Wrestling Observer, Swerve Strickland has also reportedly been propositioned about returning, which isn't too surprising, considering the return of Hit Row. But the far more interesting aspect of Frederick's report, which was posted on The Wrestling Observer's board, is that Bobby Fish reportedly propositioned his once and future Undisputed Era buddies, Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly, to quit AEW and go back to WWE/NXT full-time.
“I posted it in the Bobby Fish thread but I know Fish was trying to get them to Cole and Kyle to ask for their releases to go back to WWE and they both told him no,” Frederick reported. “It's possible Cole may have clued Tony in. If he did, I doubt he was the only one. I'm sure Swerve was one of them who did so.”
Buckle up, folk, for its looks like the Undisputed Era is about to be fixtures of the AEW-WWE war once more.
Man Bobby Fish really would go to war for Triple Paul. pic.twitter.com/IuAMtiWEuR
— Cowboy Dnaiel (@DemoDaniel23) September 23, 2022
Adam Cole is gearing up for his triumphant return to AEW.
Though he may be in high demand from Triple H and company, Cole appears to be gearing up for a return to AEW following the one-two punch of a shoulder injury and concussion suffered around Forbidden Door.
Even with a timeline that Dave Meltzer described as “completely unpredictable” earlier in the month, Cole took to Twitter to declare his intentions upon his eventual return.
“I'm running sh*t when I'm back,” Cole tweeted. “Seriously. Save the tweet. Otherwise… you, my friend, are playing yourself.”
Theoretically, Cole's declaration has merit; with Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and CM Punk all gone in the short-term and possibly forever if the “Best in the World” does, in fact, have his contract bought out, there's a clear hole for a performer like Cole to slide in and capture serious television time both on the mic and in the ring. Though there may not be a spot in the main event picture for Cole in the short-term, as Jon Moxley has the strap, MJF has the chip, and a third performer will earn a title shot via the Grand Slam Battle Royale, Wardlow hasn't had a serious, long-term challenger for his TNT Championship other than Jay Lethal since he won the belt back in July.
If TK wants to give the “The Panama City Playboy” something to do before O'Reilly returns in 2023 sans the Bucks and Omega, putting Cole against Wardlow would bring back major Karrion Kross vibes from NXT and could help to put re-establish his place in the AEW Galaxy before things really elevated in the not-too-distant future.
Either way, one person who will be rooting for Cole is none other than “Switchblade” Jay White, who totally didn't get screwed over by his fellow Bullet Club member at Forbidden Door.
My good friend, Adam Cole!! (Baybay)
I can’t wait. 😘 https://t.co/tcR5P7lCgm— Switchblade Jay White (@JayWhiteNZ) September 20, 2022
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