10 Wrestlers Who No Longer Work For AEW

WhatCulture

Those wrestlers doing their bit to help solves AEW’s roster bloat problems…

Transcript

00:00 To kick this thing off, let's just acknowledge that yes, Cody and Brandi Rhodes do exist,

00:05 they just aren't on this particular list.

00:08 They obviously qualify as wrestlers who have left AEW, but after going through their departures

00:13 in great detail over and over and over again, I'm kinda tired of it to be honest, and

00:20 I'm gonna leave it at that.

00:21 Instead, today we're gonna talk about the AEW departures that are a little bit further

00:26 removed from the zeitgeist.

00:29 Each of them are notable because, with a few exceptions, AEW don't release people before

00:34 the end of their contracts.

00:35 We'll cover a couple of those exceptions on the list, but Tony Khan isn't just cutting

00:40 people willy nilly.

00:42 So with that in mind, I'm Andy from WhatCulture, and here are 10 wrestlers who no longer work

00:47 for AEW.

00:49 10.

00:50 Bea Priestley

00:52 This one is particularly interesting, as the former Bea Priestley now works for WWE, where

00:57 she can be found working on NXT UK as Blair Davenport.

01:02 Debuting for AEW in July 2019, Priestley is best known for her brief feud with an early

01:07 babyface Britt Baker, but was appearing on and off for the company until March 2020,

01:13 balancing it with her commitments in Japan.

01:16 But then the global bastard happened, and with Priestley unable to travel from her home

01:20 in Japan to AEW shows in the United States, she was let go.

01:24 That happened in August 2020, and 10 months later she was signed by WWE.

01:30 So after all of that, it's safe to say that things worked out pretty well for her in the

01:34 end.

01:35 9.

01:36 Mel

01:37 The former Melanie Cruz was used as part of everybody's favourite AEW stable, the Nightmare

01:42 Collective, and showed her commitment to the cause by having her head shaved bald for the

01:46 role in 2020.

01:48 But in the end, she only wrestled in 5 matches for AEW, the last of which took place in August

01:55 2020.

01:57 Absent without announcement for a lengthy period of time, Mel was the subject of a report

02:01 from Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp in July 2021 stating that Mel had found success in her

02:07 day job away from wrestling and wasn't being factored into any AEW plans.

02:12 On top of this, she was semi-active on the indies last year, so she hasn't left wrestling

02:17 entirely, just AEW.

02:20 8.

02:21 Awesome Kong

02:22 Another member of the loved Nightmare Collective, Awesome Kong ended up leaving AEW for entirely

02:28 different reasons to Mel, having formally retired from wrestling in 2021 after taking

02:33 time off the previous year to film the final season of GLOW.

02:37 A legend of women's wrestling, Kong has found considerable success elsewhere.

02:42 Her AEW run was a little brief, starting at the first Double or Nothing in May 2019 and

02:48 effectively lasting just 8 months, but such is life.

02:52 In her prime, she could've easily been set up for a long, incredible run at the very

02:57 top of the card.

02:59 7.

03:00 Shima

03:01 Another AEW career crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Shima and his Strong Hearts lads

03:07 have been restricted primarily to their home base in Japan since the world started falling

03:12 apart in March 2020.

03:14 Shima had originally been pinpointed as the go-between for a potential partnership between

03:18 AEW and the upstart Chinese promotion OWE, but then, well, you know, the pandemic happened

03:25 and here we are.

03:26 It would've been cool to see the former Dragon Gate cornerstone do more in AEW, particularly

03:32 as his Kenny Omega singles match was pretty great, but maybe we'll get more once international

03:37 travel isn't such a pain in the arse, because I personally would love to see Strong Hearts

03:41 back in AEW.

03:43 6.

03:45 Jimmy Havoc

03:46 Horrific allegations made against Jimmy Havoc during the Speaking Out movement of Spring

03:50 2020, including domestic abuse, physical assault and worse, led to the former Superbad Squad

03:56 member being released by the company that August.

03:59 Initially set for counselling and rehabilitation, while suspended by AEW, Havoc is no longer

04:05 active in pro wrestling.

04:07 The punishment dealt to this alleged abuser was one that should've been reflected elsewhere

04:11 in the wrestling business as a consequence of Speaking Out.

04:15 5.

04:16 Leo Rush

04:17 Becoming a free agent on the 14th of February this year, Leo Rush's run as a contracted

04:22 AEW wrestler barely lasted six months.

04:25 Signed the previous September after debuting at Double or Nothing, where he was injured

04:29 in the Casino Battle Royale that he entered as The Joker, Leo had actually been off TV

04:34 for a little while prior to his official departure.

04:38 Being last wrestled for AEW on the 8th of December episode of Dynamite.

04:42 An unfortunate turn of events, really, and one that has continued since then, with Leo

04:47 recently suffering another injury while working PWG's Battle of Los Angeles in January,

04:53 shelving his career for an undisclosed period of time.

04:57 Here's to a speedy recovery, because the guy's far too talented to be sidelined for

05:02 too long.

05:03 4.

05:04 Eva Lise

05:05 Though she debuted for AEW in 2019, Eva Lise didn't start picking up more regular bookings

05:11 there until 2020, when she won the Deadly Draw tag tournament alongside partner Diamante.

05:18 Unfortunately that September, she and Banderosa had a match that, being polite, didn't quite

05:23 go to plan.

05:24 An apparent backstage disagreement spilled into the ring, and watching it, there were

05:28 clearly periods of one side not cooperating with the other, and it wasn't Banderosa.

05:35 Let go by AEW due to reported issues with coaches in April 2021, Eva Lise put out a

05:41 statement alleging mistreatment.

05:43 Given her questionable reliability as a narrator, it's probably best to take that one with

05:48 a giant handful of salt.

05:51 3.

05:52 Kylie Rae

05:53 While it initially looked like Kylie Rae was being set up to play a big role as an early

05:57 face of AEW's women's division, she formally departed the company early in its run, with

06:02 Tony Khan describing the split as "very amicable".

06:06 Details were few on the ground.

06:08 But Kylie later stated that nobody made her leave, however, and it soon became clear that

06:13 the dumb conspiracy theories that emerged online following her departure were just that.

06:18 Dumb.

06:19 Kylie has since worked for such promotions as Impact Wrestling and the NWA, taking several

06:24 breaks from the sport for health reasons.

06:27 This of course is far more important than anything that has ever gone on in a wrestling

06:32 ring, and in January she celebrated 90 days sober.

06:36 2.

06:37 Ben Carter

06:39 A bit of a cheat entry here, as Ben Carter was never truly employed by AEW, but he did

06:44 catch the eye when wrestling for the promotion in September 2020, particularly for his awesome

06:50 match with Scorpio Sky on Late Night Dynamite.

06:53 Visa issues unfortunately prevented AEW from being legally allowed to pay Carter.

06:59 Later he ended up signing for WWE, which had always been a dream of his.

07:03 And while there was all this talk of him being poached away, Vince McMahon's company actually

07:08 made their approach to Carter before he turned up in AEW.

07:12 Today you can catch him on NXT UK as Nathan Fraser.

07:16 Bad name, good wrestler.

07:19 1.

07:20 Big Swole

07:21 Easily the most publicised AEW departure to date, Big Swole confirmed in November 2021

07:27 that after much consideration, she and AEW had come to the mutual agreement that her

07:31 expiring contract wasn't going to be renewed, effectively making her a free agent.

07:37 A few weeks later, the incident caught fire.

07:40 Citing her perceived lack of diversity in AEW as one of the driving factors behind the

07:45 decision as well as some structural issues, Swole's reasonable, fair and well-explained

07:50 criticisms were met by Tony Khan, claiming that he let Swole go because, in his words,

07:56 he felt her wrestling wasn't good enough.

07:58 Khan responding to Swole's comments on such an important matter like a Gotten 2 message

08:03 board poster is probably something he regrets in private.

08:07 And at the end of the day, all he really had to do was not tweet.

08:13 But anyway guys, that's our list, so tell us what you think down in the comments section

08:17 below.

08:18 And if you enjoyed that, don't forget to like, share, subscribe and ring the bell for

08:20 notifications.

08:21 Then you can follow us on Twitter @WhatCultureWWE and myself @AndyHMurray where you can tell

08:27 me how wrong I am.

08:29 Goodbye!

08:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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