Renee Paquette wasn’t the only on-air talent to have talks with AEW, who had a past in WWE, as Cathy Kelley did.
The battle to sign talent between WWE and AEW doesn’t just mean in-ring performers but outside of the talent. It was reported that WWE had reached out to Paquette before signing with the rival promotion to see if she would be interested in returning to the company where she did commentary, hosting, and interviewing work.
Another broadcaster went the opposite direction, according to Fightful Select.
Earlier this month, WWE announced big commentary changes and on-air shakeups. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are the main commentators for SmackDown. Samantha Irvin serves as the ring announcer, with Kayla Braxton and Megan Morant as backstage interviewers. Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves are on the commentary team for Raw. Mike Rome is the ring announcer, while Cathy Kelley and Byron Saxton conduct onscreen interviews.
Cathy Kelley Was Nearly All Elite
Sources told Fightful earlier this year that Cathy had conversations with AEW, including speaking to Tony Khan directly at some point about the possibility of working there, and that things looked promising. It didn’t happen, and there’s no word yet on what happened to make the deal not be reached.
Kelley and AEW were on solid terms before she headed back to WWE. Kelley returned to WWE after leaving the company in 2020.