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Former IMPACT and NWA World Champion Nick Aldis recently revealed that he wanted to see if he could make it to WWE five years ago.
Aldis (then known as Magnus) was part of a new wave of home-grown talent for IMPACT Wrestling (formerly TNA) around 2012-13. He was even presented as the face of the company when TNA legend AJ Styles left in 2014. When his contract expired in 2017, he did not re-sign with the struggling promotion and left in July of that year.
Aldis has since found success in a revamped National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under owner Billy Corgan. He has won the promotion's top prize twice and even wrestled Cody Rhodes for the title at the super-indie wrestling event All In in 2018, which was the precursor to All Elite Wrestling.
Aldis recently appeared on the Kurt Angle Show podcast, where he discussed his departure from IMPACT Wrestling in 2017 and his aspirations at the time:
"It was time for me to move on. I wasn't released. My contract expired and I didn't sign another one. I was sort of ready to try something else. Truth be told, I wanted to see if I could get to WWE and still do. In my mind, I was like, I've paid my dues, I've worked with a lot of guys, I've done about as much as I can do." [h/t POST Wrestling]
Nick Aldis was scheduled to challenge NWA World Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdock at the NWA-74 pay-per-view last month, but ended up wrestling Flip Gordon in the undercard. He was replaced by Tyrus in the main event.
AEW star hinted at defecting to WWE when his contract expires
One of AEW's biggest home-grown stars, MJF, made his return to the company this week after cutting a scathing pipebomb on company president Tony Khan three months ago. He won the Casino Ladder Match at Sunday's All Out pay-per-view.
MJF opened last night's episode of Dynamite, where after sweetening the crowd for a few minutes, he showed his true heel colors. The Salt of the Earth teased that he will take the AEW World Championship to WWE when his contract expires in 2024. He even namedropped Cody Rhodes, Triple H, and co-CEO Nick Khan during the promo.
As stated above, MJF's AEW contract expires in 2024. Even though he seems to have made up for his issues with Tony Khan, seeing the changes WWE has made under Triple H may prompt him to jump ship in two years.
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