Column: With more WWE stars staying put, the fun of free agency has fizzled out

Image: WWE

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There will never be a time in my life in which wrestlers moving to another company won’t be both entertaining and newsworthy. Even the most entrenched lover (or hater) of a promotion has to enjoy the possibilities of familiar faces in new places. It’s fun and wrestling needs more fun, especially at the highest levels.

While movement was really wild during the Monday Night War era, things tapered off a bit after the “war” was over and WWE was the place to be and the place to be seen. Sure, there were situations like when the NJPW Four of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and the Good Brothers all signed with WWE and a few other cases involving TNA wrestlers, but it was nothing like the late 90s.

Then, AEW came along and things finally got interesting again.

An actual well-paying alternative to WWE with a real TV deal evolved and WWE talent either worn out from the Vince McMahon era or just wanting a fresh start had a new place to go with great wrestlers, big crowds, and buzz. Over time, even the existence of AEW was enough for some incumbents on both sides to get pay increases. Talent benefited greatly and things are better when everyone is getting more money for taking such high risks night after night. (Cue a “Justified this is awesome chant” tweet for wrestlers’ paychecks, amirite?)

And then, 2024 happened.

Among the many things I noticed in doing my extensive year-in-review podcast series was that more and more WWE wrestlers weren’t bothering to test the free agency waters or seemingly even approach the shoreline. Rather, they were more than happy to commit to new multi-year deals — even in a year where AEW was moving toward getting a nice pay bump in their TV deal and could have made things financially interesting.

Just look at the top of the WWE food chain that re-upped last year alone: Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Finn Balor, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre (pictured above), Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Damian Priest, and Asuka. CM Punk also apparently re-did his deal in the last quarter of 2023, although I’m guessing AEW will never be on his radar again.

But it was also the middle of the WWE pack that wanted to stick around like Chad Gable, LA Knight, Angel Garza, Natalya, Sheamus, Nikki Cross, Cedric Alexander, Sheamus, and Shayna Baszler. A few of those wrestlers would have been treated as gods if they hit the market, but Mount Olympus wasn’t on their GPS.

Armed with enough cash and future commitments to power small countries, WWE clearly made it a goal to re-sign their stars, pay them more, and remind the rest of the wrestling world who the 800-pound gorilla is and always will be. While there were some negotiations that seemed to take a bit longer (McIntyre and Knight, for example), they all got done.

So what actually changed?

WWE is as strong as ever, the money is better than ever, and those that re-signed seemingly didn’t see AEW as an option that they wanted to explore or even try to engage in a bidding war. Perhaps there was some behind the scenes nudging, but other than Ricochet, Bobby Lashley and MVP, everyone stuck around. There weren’t even that many releases, either.

Loyalty and opportunity is obviously a factor. Many of the names above grew up in WWE, so leaving might feel akin to deserting their family especially if they are basically happy. Conversely, Swerve Strickland would have no doubt got a WWE offer to return, but chose to re-sign with AEW this summer after a strong run as AEW World Champion. They gave him a shot so he wanted to repay it in kind and get paid handsomely while doing so.

I’m sure there is some hesitation about incumbents daring to go to free agency out of fear of appearing disloyal and retribution (aka disappearing off TV for months and months) as a result. We’re talking about human beings, and change is hard regardless of what industry you’re in.

And then there’s something Voices of Wrestling columnist Jesse Collings put so well in a column last year: “WWE fans are having way more fun with their wrestling than non-WWE fans seem to be with theirs.” I think that sentiment is translating to those that work in WWE.

Arenas are packed, fans are engaged with what they are seeing, the Netflix era has begun, and outside of the Vince McMahon debacle, what adversity has WWE/TKO really faced in the last year? Why leave a great situation for an unknown, even if could mean more money and a better opportunity? No one wants to leave the good party early, even if there’s free beer at the one down the street.

Changing the AEW narrative

Despite a new TV deal that guarantees them three years of great money and a solid five-year history behind them, there is always a negative connotation with AEW’s present and future for those who venture online. Nothing is as good as it used to be, their ratings are down, no one attends shows, the owner is a money mark, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Like in everything, the truth lies somewhere in between but AEW, and especially their wrestlers, also haven’t done a great job of negating that negative sentiment. Then again, when they try publicly, it usually goes over badly. Is the story co-workers tell about AEW behind the scenes a positive one in conversations with a potential free agent and would it even matter if it was?

There have no doubt been some self-inflicted PR wounds for Tony Khan. The reaction/silence following 2022’s “Brawl Out” remains mystifying with the lack of conflict resolution beforehand even more so. Communication seems to still be an issue with some who don’t know what’s going on and will say just that in interviews, either on the record or off.

Of course, we can’t forget the malcontents.

One of the more mind-numbing debates last year was the double standard of fans opining what a wrestling company is supposed to do when a wrestler wants to be released. We should be able to agree that regardless of who signs the check, no one should be forced to stay in a place they don’t want to be in. Bryan Danielson pointed out years ago that if you can be cut and put on ice for 90 days, why can’t wrestlers give also give a 90-day notice?

That discussion revolved primarily around Rey Fenix who handled his anticipated departure from AEW about as badly as you could imagine without actually spelling WWE on national TV. There’s Miro who wants to be released and last worked on an AEW show more than a year ago against someone who is now in WWE (Andrade). There’s Ricky Starks who has been on the shelf for ten months, Malakai Black who has always felt one foot in and out, and likely others who are being quiet on purpose or have no idea what their status is.

Slow playing the ends of any contracts like they have been will make those eventual signings (and the also eventual exit podcast interview) seem bigger which makes the problems seem bigger as well.

What now?

This is all to say that from the outside, it feels complicated to be an AEW wrestler at a certain tier and if you’re trying to both attract potential free agents in this era and retain who you have, that’s the last place you want to be. If this was 2021, Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer, and the Motor City Machine Guns would have felt like surefire AEW signings. In 2024, the stability and promise of WWE was just too hard to pass up.

If AEW wants to re-establish themselves as an option worth seriously exploring, they can do just that but they have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable about past missteps as well as innovative for what today’s modern star wrestler wants (or doesn’t realize they want yet).

A healthy wrestling industry is buoyed by wrestlers having more money to live their best lives and get the most out of their careers, regardless of where they work. Regardless of where they work, here’s hoping to a 2025 where more talent dares to explore what could be rather than what is, and that the organizations they work for are confident enough to welcome them to do so without retribution.

Josh Nason has been a contributing editor to this website since 2012.