Following his return to WWE in 2024, Andrade was fired, seemingly out of the blue, this past September. Vague reports later followed about him not parting ways with the company on the best of terms.
Multiple sources claimed that he was fired "with cause" for multiple wellness policy violations. Believing himself to be a free agent, Andrade wasted no time in making his AEW return, appearing on the October 1 episode of AEW Dynamite. However, it seems Tony Khan didn't do his due diligence, as WWE had Andrade under a one-year non-compete clause.
He's since vanished from AEW programming, and after months of speculation and conflicting rumours, Andrade himself has broken his silence on the "very long story" behind his WWE departure.
"I was in a company called AEW, and at that time I was happy," he shared. "But I was married—my wife was Charlotte Flair, and she works in WWE, so the idea was to return to WWE to be with her, and many things happened later. I was a little upset, and we got divorced."
Adding that his and Charlotte's separation ended "in the best way," Andrade reiterated that he's "very grateful to WWE" but understands that the company probably didn't "like" his AEW appearance.
Explaining his current legal battle with WWE, which he hopes will free him from a 12-month non-compete, Andrade said, "They are trying to negotiate so as not to go to court with that and have reached a good agreement, and the lawyers are doing things a little better. I think soon, more or less, I think I have a date, I think, and the lawyer too."
As for what his in-ring future could look like, he teased, "I have many companies, I have several proposals right now, I cannot sign them because of the clause. I live in Miami, Miami Beach. I moved to Miami Beach. I live there, it is getting up, going to the gym, going down to the beach, training again. I was training boxing, eating well because at the beginning I didn’t have a clause."
Based on other comments in the interview, Andrade may be planning to initially wrestle in Mexico before returning to the United States (where we'd imagine he'll look to work for AEW again). There were rumblings about a possible WWE return, but we wouldn't bank on it.
You can check out the full interview with Andrade in the player below.