AEW Beat WWE To Free Agent Signing

After a huge tease on AEW Dynamite, it’s now been confirmed that Tony Khan has snapped up another big name free agent.

There’s hot competition between WWE and AEW for every major free agent that makes it to the open market. WWE have snapped up several ex-AEW stars in short order, including Aleister Black, Rusev, Rey Fenix, and Ricky Saints but now Tony Khan has bolstered his women’s division.

The May 7 edition of Dynamite saw a huge tease air as a graphic of a red spider appeared briefly on screen and now the signing of the Toxic Spider has been confirmed.

Fightful Select has reported that Austrian star Theklas has signed with AEW. The Toxic Spider is also said to have been under consideration by WWE but Tony Khan has won the race to sign the star.

Who Is AEW’s Newest Star?

After two years as part of the Ice Ribbon roster in Japan, Thekla joined STARDOM in 2021. The Austrian star quickly became one of the top wrestlers in the company as part of Giulia’s Donna Del Mundo stable.

During her time with DDM, Thekla held the Artist of Stardom Title alongside Giulia and Mai Sakurai. In 2024, the star turned on DDM and became a founding member of the Natsuko Tora-led heel faction, H.A.T.E.

In recent months, the group has been feuding with Cosmic Angels, and at All-Star Grand Queendom on April 27th, the Toxic Spider lost to Sayaka Kurara. The stipulation for the bout was meant to see Thekla join Cosmic Angels if she was defeated, however, she refused and attacked STARDOM President Taro Okada. This led to her being ‘fired,’ writing her out of the promotion after four years.