AEW officials reportedly did not reach out to AJ Styles’ camp before he signed his new WWE contract.
As we’ve noted, it’s been confirmed that Styles recently signed a new multi-million dollar, multi-year contract extension with WWE, believed to be worth more than $3 million per yea, plus some additional bus travel costs covered. WWE wanted to re-sign Styles before he had a chance to hit free agency for the first time since leaving NJPW before he signed with the company in January 2016.
In an update, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that no overtures were made from AEW to Styles before he decided to re-sign with WWE.
The recent report on Styles’ contract extension noted that WWE officials expected him to have plenty of suitors, and they wanted to get the deal done before he hit free agency and had the chance to legally talk to other promotions.
AEW deciding against sending feelers to AJ is interesting as they had talks with Styles back when his original WWE contract was going to expire. AEW had an idea for their first TV show, where the final angle would have had Styles and current Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers come out with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, only to turn on them and begin the first big main event faction feud.
The impression given back then was that Styles wasn’t interested in AEW as he was making big money in WWE, and there’s the feeling that he will be offered a job with WWE once his in-ring career comes to end. Furthermore, at the time no one knew if AEW would make it.
Styles confirmed during a 2020 Twitch stream that he did have talks with AEW.
“Yeah, there were talks,” Styles said. “Look, it’s a business. My contract in WWE was going to expire and there were talks happening. … The Bucks are my buddies. We never discussed money or anything, but there were talks about coming in. Again, it’s all business.”
Matt Jackson later noted that Styles’ talks with AEW is what got him a significant pay raise to re-sign with WWE before this most recent contract.
Styles is rumored to face WWE Hall of Famer Edge at WrestleMania 38, but nothing has been confirmed as of this writing.
