When news broke that a dozen or so WWE Superstars were released from the promotion last September, it felt like only a matter of time before at least a few of the performers made their way to AEW.

In the past, that was sort of Tony Khan's MO, taking underutalized WWE stars that the company no longer wanted and trying to breathe new life into their careers, but that hasn't happened with these particular stars just yet, with the majority of them going to TNA, NJPW, MLW, or just the indies as AEW focuses instead on fortifying the top of their card with stars from New Japan.

Discussing the possibility of taking his talents to AEW in an appearance on Monopoly Events, Matt Riddle has asserted that he's down to take his talents to the Land of All Elite, even if he prefers working non-television matches at the moment.

“Yeah, I’d like to see myself in AEW or TNA. I talked to TNA, and everything looks good there. It’s just that my schedule’s very packed. I got four kids. If somebody offers me a date that’s gonna pay my rate, I’m gonna show up and first come, first serve. But right now, I’m kind of focusing more on MLW and New Japan. Those are the guys that showed up first at my door, wanted to help me and believe in me. So I’m kind of giving them the ball first. But TNA, AEW, there’s always a possibility,” Matt Riddle said on Monopoly Events via Fightful.

“But like we said earlier, with wrestling on TV, especially with live TV, it’s a, I don’t know if you can swear on this, but it’s a poop storm. It’s a poop storm. When you do live TV at any capacity, especially in pro wrestling, it’s a mess, it really is, unless you are very well-organized and perfect at it. Even WWE, even AEW, nobody is, and things happen, things change. I think j just wanted a break from that, and not only a break from that, but from the travel schedule. You know, WWE schedule, won’t say a bad thing about them, they’re great, they paid me, they treated me great. But the work schedule’s very tough. It’s hard, and then just the wear and tear of that and everything else and not just having the ability to go on vacation or do this or do that anytime ever. I just wanted to get away from that, I wanted to get away from the schedule, and then when I do work, I don’t want to be confined to time limits.”

Despite the valid reasons why he was released from WWE, Riddle has had no issue finding work in wrestling since his non-compete clause came to an end, with the “King of Bros” working matches in MLW and winning the NJPW Television Championship against the “Ace,” Hiroshi Tanahashi in his first match in the promotion in 2024. While it's hard to see where Riddle would fit into AEW now, if TK wants to get a deal done, he might just have a willing party who is down to make a deal.

Elijah is also interested in taking his talents to AEW.

Speaking of former WWE Superstars who were released back in September and are now looking for new homes. Elijah, aka Ellias/Ezekiel, also stopped by Monopoly Events to discuss his professional wrestling future and let fans know that he, too, would be willing to jump to AEW or even TNA if the right opportunity presents itself.

“Every one of them has their advantages and just appeal to me, just from a personal standpoint. I think it’d be cool to go to Japan and work for New Japan, just to show something that people might have not expected. They might associate me in a certain way, and I would just love to just kind of blow that expectation away. I feel like if you picture Elias or Elijah in New Japan, it’s not an immediate, obvious connection,” Elijah old Monopoly Events via Fightful.

“But then I feel like if I’m put in that environment, ‘Oh, hey, guess that? This can work out too.’ The same with AEW, or TNA, I mean I love the idea. I have plenty of ideas about how to evolve my character and take it to the next step, and I feel like you need a TV audience in order to show that. So we’ll have to see what kind of opportunities come my way and which way we go, but all three of them are very appealing.”

Since joining the indie scene in February, Elijah has wrestled two matches and counting away from WWE, working a surprisingly good effort against “Speedball” Mike Bailey at Pro Wrestling Revolver and a 16-bit challenge win for IWC a week later. Though only time will tell if his act can catch fire on the indies, for now, it's safe to say fans will eagerly wait to see what he has in store next.