Tony Khan confirms Sonny Kiss’ AEW contract was not renewed

Sonny Kiss is no longer under contract with AEW.

After Kiss was removed from the roster page on AEW’s website last week, Tony Khan was asked about Kiss’ status at the post-All Out press conference on Sunday night. Khan confirmed that Kiss’ contract was not renewed. Khan said he really likes Kiss, but it’s hard to get everyone on television with such a big roster. Khan mentioned that Kiss wrestled a lot on AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation, which are no longer being produced.

Khan left the door open for Kiss to potentially return to AEW in the future.

Khan said:

I really like Sonny Kiss. We have a roster of over 100 wrestlers now across AEW — and Sonny is a great wrestler. I think I’ve done a lot to really keep the locker room stable. I have a lot of people that I not only keep under contract, but also I’ve done well, I think, to not do like major mass layoffs and let 20, 30 people go at a time.

But I do think — I can’t renew every single contract in AEW. It would be impossible. And with such a big roster and a limited amount of TV spots — I think Sonny Kiss is a great wrestler and had a lot of potential from the very beginning of AEW and still has a lot of potential as a wrestler. And I really like Sonny Kiss. I think Sonny Kiss could certainly be back potentially, too. We’ve seen wrestlers go on and do some exciting stuff and come back like Stu Grayson, for example. So you never know what the future holds for Sonny Kiss or AEW, but I think Sonny Kiss has a lot of talent and I definitely wish him the best as a wrestler and still really hold Sonny in very high regard.

It’s true that I didn’t renew that contract, but not because I don’t like Sonny. I like Sonny a lot. Every opportunity Sonny’s had, every match I’ve booked Sonny in, I’ve put some thought into and put it together. But I would say the same of every wrestler here. And right now with a huge crew, I think it’s hard to get everybody on TV. One thing that also is a challenge to be honest is losing Dark and Elevation. It’s put more of an emphasis on five hours of television. So I think some of that was made up with TV spots. A lot of people have stepped up, but the roster has grown and grown. There’s more wrestlers than there were when we started. It’s a much, much bigger roster than the original AEW roster that Sonny was a great part of. Sonny and a number of people who are not necessarily with AEW anymore, we’ll keep an eye on them and certainly I’d be open to bringing them back if something opens up, if I get an idea for a story or if anybody has an idea that I like for a story that I would do or if they get really hot and I get interested.

Kiss had been part of AEW since the promotion launched in 2019.

Kiss was in action on an ROH television episode this July. The last time Kiss wrestled for AEW was on an episode of Dark that was taped in March and aired in April.

It was confirmed in May that Dark and Dark: Elevation were done for the time being due to an exclusivity clause between AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery. The timing coincided with the launch of AEW Collision.