When Roderick Strong made his jump from NXT to AEW after his WWE contract unceremoniously expired earlier this year, it led to more than a few fans wondering what the future holds for The Undisputed Era, the four-man faction also featuring Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly that ran roughshod through developmental from 2017-21.

Would Tony Khan lean back into the faction and embrace the quartet Paul “Triple H” Levesque assembled in NXT? Or does he have something else in mind for the team long-term, maybe embracing a war between Cole and O'Reilly like in, well, every promotion they've ever been in? Fortunately, Fish decided to peel back the curtain on Khan's initial plans for the faction in an appearance on Tru Heel Heat Wrestling and let it split what Khan had in mind for the four-man faction.

“Yeah the plans were always something between the group of us, some version of Adam, me, Kyle, Roddy if he ever became available and then there was Matt and Nick who we already knew we had such chemistry with, and Kenny,” Bobby Fish said via Fightful. “And Kenny and Adam are great foils for each other, and like there was just, you know, the things that made sense. They made sense, and I think everybody even without talking about it knew kind of where we were headed. Tony books the show, and I’m sure he had that long-term as well. I believe he did, I can’t speak for the man. But things happen, variables get in the way, and sometimes, you know, I mean pro wrestling, sometimes things don’t work out the way you plan, and a booker has to roll with those punches especially.

“So we got close to some stuff, and then we were still waiting on things and then injuries and then other things. And then contracts come up and, you know, really all it came down to with me and AEW was we couldn’t agree on a number going forward. We couldn’t agree on not even a number, we couldn’t agree on numbers so like we’re talking everything that would be in a contract, and we tried, you know. And my agent at the time who knows their lawyers, they tried, but we just couldn’t come to an agreement. And so, you know, I don’t overvalue myself, but I do value myself, and I’m not going to be, I’m not gonna to shortchange myself. So other people can, but I’m not going to devalue myself, and that’s kind of where we were so yeah I walked, you know, and that was it. It was amicable, I mean they were like, ‘okay well yeah we’re not gonna’ and I said, ‘okay I’m not gonna either’ so yeah.”

Whoa, while Fish's comments aren't too surprising, as AEW was really leaning into an Elite Civil War before Cole and O'Reilly both went down with injuries, it is interesting to note that Strong has been on Khan's radar for a long time. So now that all four members of the faction are out of WWE's clutches, could the quartet reunite and enter into a new feud with the fully-reformed Elite down the line? Potentially so, but Fish isn't holding his breath, as he's proud to be on the indies once more helping out a new generation of wrestlers.

Bobby Fish is focused on helping the future, not an AEW reunion.

Discussing the prospect of reuniting The Undisputed Era in AEW, Bobby Fish noted while nothing is off the table, he's happy with his current spot in the professional wrestling landscape.

“I love what I’m doing right now if I can be completely honest. This trip back to the indies, as awkward as it is at times because it’s been so long, but it’s also I’m finding this new love for working in a different way and the freedom with which I get to go out and do things,” Bobby Fish said. “And then you don’t realize because you’re around so many people who have done this long enough, and they’ve tweaked it. And they’ve got, you know, there’s polish, and they’re really, you don’t realize the things that we take for granted from a knowledge standpoint other people don’t know. And so I’m getting an opportunity to help pass on some of this to people that I work with or I talk to or if I do a seminar or whatever it is.

“So I mean, I can’t put it over enough how much I’m enjoying that, and that’s something you know, I mean, this is a pretty selfish business, so like, you never really think that’s gonna float your boat. So when it started to, I was like, wait, what’s what is happening? What is this kumbaya s**t, but like yeah, man, I really kind of love giving back and like saying something or pointing something out to somebody on one of these shows and watching the light bulb go off for them. It’s like yeah, that’s cool, that’s cool because I know that I had so many of those moments myself in my journey, and when we get to these destinations, you know, we’ve, we forget the journey that’s behind us and that’s where the value is that’s the good stuff.”

Does Fish really have a say in whether or not he returns to AEW? No, he and AEW were clearly far apart numbers-wise when his last contract came up, and he hasn't exactly had much to say in a positive way about performers like CM Punk since. Still, if Khan and company want to lean into a four-man iteration of The Undisputed Era, Fish is only a short call away.