With AEW going into its third year, many of the original signings have seen their contracts come up for renewal.
Names like Peter Avalon, who says he's still with AEW, and Marko Stunt have started openly taking Indie bookings, Joey Janela isn't sure what's going on with his contract, and Big Swole didn't have her contract renewed. Meanwhile, the likes of Britt Baker and Scorpio Sky signed new deals with the company before 2022 rolled around.
Speaking to Scott Fishman of TVInsider, Tony Khan was asked for his thought process as he decides which contracts to renew and which ones he can't.
"When we started a lot of people had contracts that were a couple of years long and a lot of them are coming up. 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. 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. I did want to give some job security to people. 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," he said.
Khan will continue to add to the roster on Wednesday as a new free agent signing will make his debut against Isiah Kassidy.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
