AEW Champion Reflects On Turning Down WWE

An AEW champion believes they made the right call to sign with the company.

Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis began teaming together in 2017 as Aussie Open, but it wasn’t until they joined forces with Will Ospreay and United Empire in NJPW that things really took off.

From there, the pair established themselves as one of the most highly rated tag teams in the world, and that journey subsequently took them to AEW. However, disaster struck for Davis in late 2023 when he suffered a serious wrist injury.

With Davis out, Fletcher reinvented himself as a singles wrestler and he currently holds the TNT Championship.

During a new interview with Sean Ross Sapp, Fletcher discussed the decision to sign with AEW, despite heavy interest from WWE. The star explained that he and Davis were impressed with Tony Khan and how he dealt with them, and that made the difference.

“It was the fact that we [Aussie Open] had come in before signing, and we kind of understood the vibe and how Tony treated us and other people. We trusted that it would be the best place for us to grow. The way I’m standing here today, we made the right choice.”

Fletcher went on to say that it was “mind-blowing” to realise WWE were even interested after growing up as a fan.

“Kind of mind-blowing. Coming up and being a fan of WWE, just the fact that they were like, ‘We want to talk to you and get on a Zoom call with you.’ It was weird to let that sink in. ‘Ah, okay, I guess I’m a real wrestler now.’”

Kyle Fletcher Pens New AEW Deal

The Aussie star was most recently in action on the August 9 edition of Collision, where he defeated Tomohiro Ishii to retain the TNT Championship. Fletcher won the title a little over a week earlier in a brutal street fight with veteran Dustin Rhodes.

It’s since been confirmed that Rhodes likely won’t wrestle again until 2026 at the earliest as he prepares for double knee replacement surgery.

Following Collision it was reported that Kyle Fletcher has signed a new “big money” long-term AEW contract. The deal is said to be especially noteworthy as it’s particularly lucrative for a star of Fletcher’s age.

H/t to Fightful