WWE reportedly contacted Buddy Matthews before his exit from AEW

AEW star Buddy Matthews was apparently one of the names contacted by WWE while under contract with All Elite Wrestling.

Easily lost amid the chaos of the last month were reports that WWE had contacted some AEW talent, raising concerns of contract tampering. AEW sent an email to co-CEOs Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon to warn them not to tamper with their talent.

Malakai Black was recently granted his release from the promotion but is under a non-complete clause for an undisclosed amount of time. In other words, Malakai cannot just show up on RAW or SmackDown as Aleister Black again. He will have to wait a while to do so.

While it's unclear whether Black was contacted by WWE, a member of his stable apparently was. According to the Wrestling Observer's Ryan Frederick on the F4W Board, WWE reportedly sent out feelers to Buddy Matthews, Andrade El Idolo, Keith Lee, Adam Cole, and Kyle O'Reilly.

The House of Black wrestled Sting, Darby Allin, and Miro at AEW All Out in a Trios match. At the end of the match, Sting spat green mist into Malakai's eyes and Darby followed it up with a Coffin Drop for the pinfall victory. Malakai then bowed to the audience before making his way to the back.

Buddy seemingly had a similar send-off at Rampage: Grand Slam. The Great Muta made a shocking appearance and spat mist into Matthews' eyes. Sting followed it up with the Scorpion Death Drop to put Buddy away.

Buddy Matthews says he needs to step away as rumors emerge that WWE contacted him

Buddy Matthews gave a similar promo to Malakai Black at an independent wrestling event and said he needed time to "recalibrate." Malakai noted that he needed to recalibrate the last two decades of his life in a recently released statement.

Speaking at Fight Life Pro Wrestling, Buddy confirmed that he would be stepping away from in-ring competition for a while. He quoted Malakai and said that this wasn't a goodbye and that he would see the fans down the road.

"Unfortunately, tonight, I'm going to be the bearer of some unfortunate news. As everyone knows, the House of Black has had some issues lately. As all the members of the house, I'm speaking for them all, we want to thank you all for being members of the house. Unfortunately, I, like some of the other members, need to go away for a while. I need to recalibrate. I need to figure out some things. As my brother Malakai once said, this isn't goodbye, this is see you later." said Matthews [H/T: Fightful]

Buddy and Aleister were both released from WWE on June 2, 2021. It will be interesting to see if they both wind up returning to the company in the near future.

Would you like to see Buddy Murphy and Aleister Black back in WWE? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.