Tony Khan recently addressed potential roster cuts in AEW. Khan was speaking with TV Insider when he noted that some more wrestlers will likely not have their contracts renewed by the company.
“When we started a lot of people had contracts that were a couple of years long and a lot of them are coming up,” Khan said. “I have really tried hard to be very considerate of the people on the roster, especially going through the pandemic. That encompassed a long period of time where we were still in our first year of television and going into our second.”
Wrestlers Kept Under Contract During The Pandemic
Khan said he didn’t want to release anyone during the pandemic. He says this was because he knew it would be difficult for them to get work elsewhere during that time.
“I kept a lot of people under contract even though I wasn’t necessarily using them on television because I wanted them to still have paying work, which was hard to come by for wrestling during the pandemic where there weren’t any independent shows. Really only two places were running and the other place was cutting people left and right.”
Several new names have joined the promotion lately. This has led to others on the roster not being utilized as frequently. Ultimately, those not being utilized may not have their contracts renewed by the promotion.
“I did want to give some job security to people,” Khan continued.”Now with so many wrestlers coming in, I can’t renew all the contracts. I’ve had to make some tough choices based on ability, fan response, or both. I try to maintain the best roster I can for the company and fans.”
Lio Rush’s contract with AEW runs out on February 14th and he has announced he will be a free agent after. Peter Avalon’s contract was not renewed. Big Swole’s contract was also not renewed. Others that have been talked about as possibly not getting renewed include Brian Cage and Joey Janela, though that is just speculation.