41-year-old former WWE star reveals why he never signed with AEW

Like every industry, pro wrestling also has a Big Four, and WWE and AEW are part of that list. Several professional wrestlers have either already been on both rosters or are on the verge of doing so. In such a scenario, one former WWE star has revealed why he didn't sign up with Tony Khan, even after he bid goodbye to the Stanford-based company.

And that wrestler is none other than Erick Rowan, who was part of the tag team comprising the late Brodie Lee (Luke Harper) in WWE. After Brodie left the Stamford-based company, he joined the Jacksonville-based promotion and was revealed as the leader of the Dark Order stable in 2020.

Recently, in a sit-down interview with Chris Van Vliet, Eric revealed whether there was any talk between them about joining AEW. He also revealed the shocking reason why the two didn't meet up and join the Tony Khan-led company.

"We had never talked about doing anything there (AEW), because he was building something for him and we had fought so hard to get out of each other's shadows for so long, coz we were always connected. We wanted something for ourselves. To see him start to get something for himself and for me to be able to branch off and do stuff for myself, were great conversations," he said (33:18 - 33:43)

Erick now wrestles in the independent circuit. After Brodie's demise, The Dark Order had his son, Brodie Jr., as the honorary member of the team.

Tony Khan's AEW has signed some of the biggest WWE names

An Erick Rowan scalp would have definitely worked better for Tony Khan, who has been working to get some of the biggest names who are ex-WWE onto his roster. Recently, he got Adam Copeland to debut at WrestleDream, and Ric Flair made his AEW debut as a gift to the about-to-retire Sting.

Khan knows the value of ex-WWE Superstars, beginning from his signing up the likes of Chris Jericho to welcoming the likes of Jon Moxley. Of course, there has been a bit of give-and-take, with former AEW TBS champ Jade Cargill signing with the Stamford-based company earlier this year.