Former WWE writer sheds light on Andrade's WWE run following AEW return (Exclusive)

Andrade El Idolo recently made his return to AEW on the sixth anniversary episode of Dynamite. He made his return to the promotion he left in 2023 to join WWE, making his second debut in the promotion at the Royal Rumble 2024. However, he was released from the TKO-owned company last month, reportedly for violating the company's wellness policy.

Former WWE writer Vince Russo recently shed some light on why Andrade chose to return to the Stamford-based promotion in 2024. His second run with the promotion proved to be underwhelming and only yielded him the WWE Speed Championship, which wasn't even defended on television during his reign.

Russo was talking on a recent episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing with Russo, where he stated that he might have returned to WWE because he was married to Charlotte Flair at the time. He said that might've played a part in his decision to return, but it still may have been awkward for him to be in the company, leading him to make a return to AEW.

"I think it's a little different in his case because he was married to Charlotte, you know what I'm saying? So that may have had something to do with him leaving the first time, you know, that may have come into play here, like his relationship with her, like who knows? And it could have even been, bro, that he did go back a second time and maybe it was still really awkward. You know what I mean? I mean, we don't know that aspect of it. So it's really hard to say unless we really knew from his point of view why the jumps, you know?" Russo said.

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Andrade and Charlotte got married in May 2022, having been together since early 2019. However, the duo filed for divorce in June 2024, just six months after Andrade had made his return to WWE.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed