WWE Rumors: Seven Superstars’ Contracts Expire This Year, Could Head To All Elite Wrestling, Per ‘Sportskeeda’
While there have been other wrestling promotions around the world for a long time, the creation of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has generated a lot of buzz. A number of wrestlers from different companies have expressed interest in joining the start-up promotion created by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks. Now, there are a number of WWE superstars who will have their contracts expire in 2019, but are they heading to AEW?
Looking away from expiring contracts for a second, there has been a lot of speculation lately as to numerous WWE superstars requesting their release. As reported by the Inquisitr, Mike and Maria Kanellis have both asked for their releases from the company as of a few weeks ago, but they aren’t the only ones.
Word is going around that The Revival and Dolph Ziggler also want out of their WWE deals, but there’s been no confirmation as of yet.
It’s truly another story if WWE chooses to grant these release requests, but if a contract expires, there isn’t much that can be done. According to Fightful, there are numerous superstars who will see their contracts expire this year and as of now, they have not re-signed.
With All Elite Wrestling being able to offer competitive contracts thanks to the Khan family, it’s not out of the question for some of these superstars to decline any WWE offers.
Here are the WWE superstars whose current contracts will expire this year:
- Shinsuke Nakamura – 2019
- The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) – September 2019
- Mauro Ranallo – June 2019
- Paige – 2019
- Jim Ross – March 2019
- AJ Styles – April 2019
It’s always possible that any or all of those big names could re-sign with WWE, but it is interesting that they’re this close to expiration and nothing yet. Sportskeeda is reporting that it would not be out of the question for some or all of them to head to spurn any return offer from WWE and sign with All Elite Wrestling.
Jim Ross has been reportedly connected to AEW for months now, and that is very possible. There has been plenty of talk that Nakamura is leaving WWE after his current contract is up and he could end up in AEW or more likely back with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Paige and Mauro Ranallo appear happy enough even though Paige is kind of in limbo right now.
The biggest question mark in that whole list is the status of AJ Styles and the Good Brothers. Even though Styles’ contract expires first, he could take his former Bullet Club brothers with him and head somewhere such as All Elite Wrestling.
Things seem a bit chaotic in WWE lately as a number of superstars have requested their releases with the hopes of becoming free agents. It’s not yet known if they will have their wishes granted, but a handful of contracts definitely do expire this year and anything is possible there. It will be quite fun for wrestling fans as they wait and see if anyone jumps ship and heads to All Elite Wrestling.
