With just a few weeks to go before WWE Royal Rumble, the personnel merry-go-round is in full swing at the two major US leagues. WWE is poaching another star from AEW, while its rival is announcing a series of signings.
In soccer, there is the winter transfer window – in wrestling, too, January is a month in which the transfer merry-go-round spins faster than usual.
Many contracts in the show fighting industry expire during this period. One of the main reasons for this is the WWE’s traditional Royal Rumble event, where the market leader likes to surprise its fans with big debuts and comebacks. Many stars and their agents therefore structure their contracts in such a way that they can gamble on this factor.
There has been speculation for some time now that ring legend Chris Jericho, whose deal with rival AEW expired at the end of 2025, will return at the Rumble on January 31 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Since last week, another major change from AEW to WWE has been in the works: rising heavyweight Powerhouse Hobbs is said to be on his way to Stamford.
Powerhouse Hobbs leaves AEW – and is likely to join WWE:
Until a few days ago, he still held the AEW title, but now he is heading for a new start: Will Hobbs, as the soon-to-be 35-year-old is actually called, had been under contract with AEW since fall 2020 and made a name for himself there as an athletic powerhouse.
Hobbs, former tag team partner of Ricky Saints (Ricky Starks), who also moved to WWE, was AEW TNT Champion and held the Trios Title together with Samoa Joe and Japanese legend Katsuyori Shibata until last week.
On Saturday’s episode of the TV show Collision, the trio The Opps lost their belts to Hangman Page, Kevin Knight, and “Speedball” Mike Bailey. It was apparently the swan song for Hobbs: his profile has now been removed from the AEW homepage, and according to consistent media reports, he has declined a contract extension with AEW and opted for WWE.
Industry guru Dave Meltzer reports in his Wrestling Observer that various decision-makers at WWE think highly of Hobbs. It’s quite possible that he’ll make a big splash at the Rumble.
AEW signs trio and talent with WWE past
At the same show where Hobbs was informally bid farewell by AEW, the league also introduced three new signings: the trio The Rascalz – Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz, and Myron Reed.
The three high flyers and their former partner Trey Miguel had long been well-known figures in the independent scene and at TNA. Xavier and Wentz had also had a promising start to their careers as Wes Lee and Nash Carter (MSK) in WWE’s developmental roster NXT – until Wentz/Carter was fired in 2022 after scandalous revelations: his then-wife accused him of domestic violence and published a picture of Wentz posing as Adolf Hitler.
Wentz had shown remorse and recently regained his footing, appearing in recent years at TNA and, through the cooperation with WWE, also at NXT. After the WWE dismissal of partner Lee/Xavier, there was a reunion of all the Rascalz at TNA – and now the decision to move to AEW together after their contracts expire.
According to reports, Miguel was also supposed to sign on, but mysteriously, he has now suddenly announced a “break” from wrestling. According to the Fightful portal, Miguel has been released “on good terms” from his already signed AEW contract, but the background is unclear.
Talent Zayda Steel and various Mexican stars also signed
In parallel with the Rascalz, AEW has also officially announced the signing of young talent Zayda Steel. The 22-year-old was until recently under contract with WWE’s ID project, the development program for talent from the independent scene, but terminated this contract of her own accord. Steel has already joined the SkyFlight group around Scorpio Sky at AEW. A few days earlier, AEW also officially announced that the Mexicans Hechicero and Mascara Dorada, as well as the Mexican-American wrestler Persephone, are also contractually bound to the league – parallel to their commitments to the Mexican partner league CMLL.
