Last week, WWE made another series of sweeping cuts to its roster. A lot of big names will soon be free agents, and many fans are wondering how many of them AEW will choose to sign. Of course, one interesting tidbit is that at least some of those released were reportedly given their marching orders due to refusing to take the COVID vaccine (including Nia Jax).
During a recent interview PWTorch, AEW President Tony Khan confirmed that he's been vaccinated and addressed the status of the company's talent roster.
"I have got that most of the roster in AEW is vaccinated. For example, there have been some places we went where everybody had to be vaccinated and I think when the companies start doing international travel, we will see that for Canada and England, places like that, it will be very difficult for wrestlers to travel without it," he explained. "Most of the roster is vaccinated and as we continue touring it’s something that I think may come up, so understand why for some people, especially with the return to international touring looming, why that would be an issue."
"I have not required it, same with the NFL and same with, I think other wrestling leagues," Kahn added, confirming that there's no rule in place requiring his wrestlers to get vaxxed. "But it will be a big challenge if you’re not for a lot of circumstances a great example was the Jericho Cruise where all the wrestlers on the Jericho Cruise had to be vaccinated."
As for whether he has his eye on any of the wrestlers released by WWE (a list that includes names like Karrion Kross, Keith Lee, and Ember Moon), Khan expressed interest in signing at least some of them.
"I do see a few in this wave. I don’t want to say who, or when I would be interested in them, but I think there’s a few very interesting people they’ve just let go," Khan teased. "The same goes in the last wave, and the wave before that, and the wave before that. So, each time they let, let’s say 20 people go, I think there’s a few interesting ones for AEW and this was no exception to that."
There are anywhere from 30 to 90 days to go until we find out who Khan is really interested in, so you'll want to keep checking back here for the latest as these wrestlers start looking to sign elsewhere.