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All Elite Wrestling or AEW has been reasonably successful since its inception in 2019. The promotion managed to get AEW Dynamite on TNT and bring back the excitement that WCW Monday Nitro did for the network.
AEW Dynamite has won most of its ratings 'war' against WWE NXT and always done well in the 18-49 demographic. AEW has used a mixture of young independent stars, experienced former WWE Superstars, and raw talent finding their footing on televised wrestling.
They have signed some of the best talents around like Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, Jake Hager, Pride-n-Powerful, and many others. It also looks like they're planning to add more familiar names down the line. Tony Khan, while commentating on Ricky Starks' recent signing said:
"Ricky Starks was a great signing. That was totally organic too. Ricky Starks was a person who had earned an opportunity and was somebody we were looking at to challenge for the TNT championship against Cody. That’s a good example, but I think there’s going to be some other guys, maybe people you’d even be more familiar with down the line."
With that said, not everyone signed with All Elite Wrestling, and some people opted out to mostly stay with their current wrestling promotion. That may change in the future as AEW continues to establish itself.
Here are 6 wrestlers who turned down AEW contracts.
#6 Nick Aldis
While Nick Aldis first got popular in Impact Wrestling, his tenure as the NWA World Champion has put him on the map. As the NWA Champion, Aldis was able to take back to its wrestling territory routes defending the belt anywhere and everywhere.
One of his most-hyped fights came in All In in 2018, where he defended the title against Cody Rhodes. The build-up to the match was so well done that the final result was excellent, with Aldis dropping the famed Championship to Cody.
Of course, when AEW came around, there was a possibility that Aldis could join. Aldis confirmed this in an interview but turned it down because of his commitment to the NWA. He said:
"I'll tell you the truth: I was made an offer by AEW. I counter-offered with, 'I'd like to be able to do both.' I'd like to work with them because obviously, I have great admiration for Cody and the Bucks for what they've been able to do. But I wasn't prepared to walk away from the two years of work I've done with the NWA. And that was that. I left it open with, 'If you can find a way to keep doing this and do your show, I'll do your show."
While NWA has established themselves with their NWA Power web television program and Aldis being at the center, it does seem that he's there to stay (for now).
#5 CM Punk
When CM Punk showed up on WWE Backstage, people thought that the much-vaunted return of The Voice of the Voiceless to professional wrestling had finally happened. But Punk in several interviews, since then, has said that he was just a Fox Employee and only covered WWE programming in his role as an analyst.
WWE Backstage is seemingly canceled, which would technically make CM Punk a free agent. But before all of this went down, AEW did court CM Punk aggressively. When Punk was asked about their negotiations, he said that he didn't like their approach as the offer was made via text message.
Former WCW star and nWo alumni Konnan said on the Keepin it 100' podcast that CM Punk didn't sign with AEW because he was asking for too much money. In a recent interview, Cody Rhodes elaborated on Konnan's comments and the alleged 'text message offer.' He said:
"As far as the CM Punk negotiations go, everyone heard the famous ‘he got a text from us’. Yeah, of course there were negotiations and he did ask for a great amount of money and Punk is worth a great deal of money."
Cody also pushed back on the 'these wrestlers are running this wrestling company' narrative, which is not entirely true. While he, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks are running creative and marketing, the money isn't his at the end of the day, and financials are handled by a group of smart, fiscally conservative people.
Cody also didn't rule out working with CM Punk one day as he didn't it was only about the money with him. He said:
“Because the price tag becomes a lot more justifiable if you’re genuinely interested in what we’re doing at the high speed we’re doing it. And again, that’s not even specific to him, just in general, if the passion is not there, the money is not there.”
AEW Dynamite has grown in a short period, especially with its contract extension on TNT. While they may be losing some weeks to WWE NXT in overall viewers, they're able to lead regularly in the vital demo rating as Chris Jericho 'elegantly' put in on a recent episode of AEW Dynamite.
CM Punk may have turned down an AEW contract the first time around. Will AEW approach him again? Only time will tell.
#4 Randy Orton
If a specific wrestler could say that he was Mr. WWE, it would be Randy Orton. He has spent his entire wrestling career in WWE and had recently re-signed with the company. But believe it or not, there was a possibility that he could have jumped ship to AEW.
While Randy Orton did sign with WWE last year, there was a great deal of speculation that his future could be in AEW. Of course, this seemed unfathomable, but Orton himself was laying the seeds of doubts in fans' minds with social media posts like these:
While Randy Orton himself has never actually confirmed whether AEW made the offer, rumors were flying around that he re-signed with WWE because the AEW deal offered was less than Jericho.
Adding fuel to this fire, while responding to Randy Orton on Twitter over a separate issue, Tony Khan alluded to the fact that The Viper used AEW as leverage to get a better WWE Contract.
Since then, Randy Orton is currently enjoying a more significant presence on WWE RAW and is just off the heels of a feud with Edge. But Orton in AEW would have certainly been an exciting chapter.
#3 Edge
Edge. The Rated-R Superstar. The Ultimate Opportunist. The Master Manipulator. The greatest comeback of all time? That's debatable, but it ranks high on the emotional scale. When Edge's WWE career came to a halt in 2011, many fans probably thought they had seen the last of him when it came to in-ring competition.
Edge went into acting since then and has been relatively successful in the medium with roles on TV such as CW's The Flash and Vikings. But the return at the WWE Royal Rumble in 2020 caught many by surprise when he competed in the Royal Rumble match itself.
The emotion on his face was evident that this was a dream come true and a comeback for the ages. But before any of that happened, AEW might have been the place he would have returned to professional wrestling had things gone differently.
It was rumored that negotiations with AEW and WWE began last year. AEW's offer consisted of a handful of matches as well as serving as a backstage producer. Edge confirmed these rumors and said that AEW did reach out to him last year, after SummerSlam. He said:
"SummerSlam happened and another company within the industry contacted me and said they were interested and wanted to know if I could wrestle."
But after a discussion with Vince McMahon, he decided to re-sign with WWE. Edge said:
'He’s done right by me my entire career. He gave me my chance. He trusted me to be able to pull off a lot of things, be a pillar for his shows, be a general. That goes a long way for me."
Edge in AEW would have been an unexpected combination, but his WWE return seemed more fitting from a poetic standpoint.
#2 and #1 Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
It came as a surprise to many in the WWE Universe that Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were released from WWE back in April with many other Superstars. As part of The O.C. alongside AJ Styles, Gallows and Anderson seemed to be set for bigger things. But that didn't come to pass.
Before they re-signed with WWE back in 2019 for five years, there were rumors that they could be the pair to jump to AEW. This was, in part, due to the relationship with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega back in NJPW and The Bullet Club.
In a discussion with Ryan Satin on the Talk ‘N Shop YouTube channel, the pair seemingly confirmed that they were bound to AEW before Triple H upped their contracts' value.
Anderson revealed that Matt Jackson discussed their storyline plan for him and Gallows back in June 2019, which would have taken place at the first episode of AEW Dynamite. He said: (H/T Pro Wrestling Sheet)
"Machine Gun music is gonna hit. I’m gonna come out. Gallows comes from behind. We walk to the ring. We too sweet The Young Bucks and Kenny. Turn around, everyone’s happy, and then we beat the f*ck out of them,” he said while detailing the pitch. “It’s one of the biggest regrets of my life that that didn’t f*cking happen. It kills me. Badly.”
Moreover, the contracts were for two years, and they were going to meet with Tony Khan. That meeting didn't happen as Triple H made them an offer they couldn't refuse and was large enough to set up their futures. They signed the contracts that night.
They told The Young Bucks that they re-signed and sufficed to say that there were some hard feelings. Anderson said:
"There were some hard feelings, I think. Because I think people trusted the Bucks and they told other parties that we were coming, and then we didn’t come and it made them look like they couldn’t close the deal.”
Gallows did say that they didn't take the AEW deal was simply a business decision. They knew that AEW would do well, but WWE's offer was just too good to pass up.
It now seems that the pair have signed with Impact Wrestling and can work in Japan once travel restrictions are lifted. Could they still come to AEW in the future? In professional wrestling, never say never.
