Ace Austin is officially All Elite.
This past weekend, the former TNA Wrestling star made his debut against the “bald man” Ricochet. The former X-Division Champion came out on the losing end, but Austin put on such an impressive performance that Tony Khan opted to sign the 28-year-old.
Now the exact details of his contract remain unknown, but according to Fightful, Austin signed a multi-year deal. This is coming a couple months after Austin left TNA Wrestling. The company wanted to keep the former X-Division Champion, so they did offer him a new deal, but the new AEW star just wasn’t interested in re-signing. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Austin had his eye on of the bigger companies.
“Ace Austin’s deal is set to expire,” Dave Meltzer reported. “Real name Austin Highley, 28, he was offered a new deal but turned it down and is looking at getting into a larger company.”
That report was seemingly backed up by former TNA President Scott D'Amore.
"Ace deciding to leave is amicable—he’s been there since he was barely out of his teens, and he’s ready to step up." Former TNA president Scott D’Amore said in his Uncrowned column.
Austin has been with TNA since 2019. The promotion pushed him pretty quickly as he won the prestigious X-Division title in his first year with the company. Austin would continue to be featured prominently in TNA as both a singles and tag team wrestler. He won the X-Division title on three separate occasions. He won the TNA World Tag Team titles three separate times as well. His partnership with Chris Bey came to an end when he suffered that freak accident that broke his neck.
Austin’s final match in TNA was an eight man tag team bout where he fought with Indi Hartwell and The Rascalz (Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz) to take on Mustafa Ali’s Order 4 ( Tasha Steelz, John Skyler, and Jason Hotch). There’s no telling how Austin will be treated in AEW, but hopefully he’s given an opportunity to prove himself. The former TNA star is a great get for the company and he’s shown in his previous promotion that he can be a main event talent if given the chance. Austin never won the world title in TNA, but the times they’ve given him a chance to run at the top for the belt, he’s succeeded.
At the moment, AEW is focused on Forbidden Door, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he doesn’t show up on this week’s Dynamite or Collision. Though that’s just my assumption.