Lucha Bros will still be under AEW contract for a bit longer.
Fightful Select reported this summer that the contracts of Penta and Rey Fenix were set to expire this year, with WWE interested in bringing them aboard. Beyond this, Penta had told numerous sources back in June and since then that he'd been in contact with WWE and stated that he and his brother were a package deal and that they wanted to go to the WWE main roster as opposed to NXT. We're told that AEW became aware of this, and saw evidence of at least one of the talent discussing their plans to move to WWE this Summer.
AEW had offered the Lucha Bros a contract this Summer and were hoping to retain the duo for years to come, and had immediate plans to put the Trios Titles on they and PAC at AEW All In. However, Penta and Fenix didn't sign those new deals, but sources that we spoke to in AEW claimed they had not discussed or communicated plans to leave. However, we've also heard that exactly how much AEW wanted to retain the duo wasn't communicated to them by the person who should have.
Wrestling Observer reported that a few months had been added to Penta's deal due to injury time by AEW, and Fenix had substantially more. This matches up with what Fightful heard was likely to happen, as sources within WWE had been made aware as of last week that Fenix wouldn't be imminently joining the company. Fenix missed over six months between October 2023 and June 2024, well over three months from January 2022 to April 2022, and three months in 2021 as well.
When time was added to Penta's deal, we're told that was around the time he publicly tweeted that "his present was AEW," as he was hoping that the situation didn't result in Fenix being held to the injury time on his deal, as there's much more that can be added. We've not yet heard if AEW plans on having them work in the future or if they're on ice, but it was confirmed to us if they're under contract, they're still being paid. We didn't get a straight answer as to the motivation of extending the deals, outside of AEW wanting to get the contracted amount of time out of the duo that they were signed for per the terms of the contract. It is expected by talent that they'll be asked to put talent over at the very least if they're planning on leaving.
When discussing contract tampering, there's no oversight or league that could do much about "contract tampering," so to speak., and is not a law in sports, as opposed to a rule in leagues. However, tortious interference with contract that causes a breach is, and is largely what is actually discussed when bringing up "contract tampering," in wrestling. This is why if you ever listen to a Bruce Prichard podcast, he'll reference asking about talent's contract status when they would inquire about work with WWF/E in the past. For those wondering, adding injury time has been common within AEW, WWE, and TNA.
Contrary to reports, Penta and Fenix are not signed by WWE in any capacity, and WWE has never acknowledged any reports or rumors about them in an official capacity.
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