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Details On Two AEW Contracts WWE Allegedly Tried To Tamper With

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There are two names that have been mentioned as contracted AEW talents that WWE attempted to reach out to in the past.

It has been reported over the past year that World Wrestling Entertainment tried to reach out to contracted All Elite Wrestling talent who were under contract. The reason WWE did this was to try to get those people back into the company after they were released or left on their own.

Recently, AEW’s Owner, CEO & GM Tony Khan revealed that about one year ago is when WWE tried to tamper with contracted AEW talents while Tony was dealing with his mother’s health issue that put her in the hospital. Tony’s mother overcame her health problems and is doing a lot better now, but Tony says that is when “business became personal for me.”

WWE allegedly tampered with the contracts of Swerve Strickland & William Regal

On a recent episode of the Fightful Select podcast, Sean Ross Sapp spoke about two names that WWE allegedly tried to tamper with. Former AEW Tag Team Champion Swerve Strickland was known as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in WWE from 2019 until his release in November 2021. He was part of the Hit Row group. According to Sapp, WWE tried to bring Swerve back, so he referred them to his lawyer.

“I can tell you two situations that Khan took it personally. One of which was Swerve Strickland, who signed a multi-year deal on pay-per-view, for a Hit Row reunion. He, I believe, referred WWE or WWE’s talent relations person to his lawyer.”

As for William Regal, he worked for WWE from 1998 to January 2022 first as a wrestler for many years and then in backstage roles as well as the GM of NXT. In March 2022, Regal signed with AEW to become an on-screen mentor/manager of sorts for the Blackpool Combat Club group.

“Then there was the other instance, when Tony Khan’s mother was in the hospital, and while his mother was in the hospital it became abundantly clear that WWE had tampered and spoken to William Regal. They offered him a new role that had already been prepared, so that’s why he took it personal for those.”

In December 2022, Regal requested and was granted his release from AEW so he could return to WWE. Since Regal’s son works for WWE as NXT wrestler Charlie Dempsey, AEW granted his release. Regal returned to work for WWE in a behind-the-scenes role in January 2023.

H/T @DrainBamager