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Ex-WWE Champion Officially Removed From Active Roster

By Monika Thapa • Published Oct 08, 2025 06:50 EDT
wwe logo over santos escobar

Santos Escobar’s run in WWE is officially over. He’s a free agent as of midnight, October 6, 2025, after his contract expired and he decided not to stick around.

Escobar signed with the Stamford-based promotion back in 2019 and made a name for himself as the guy who built Legado Del Fantasma and held down the NXT Cruiserweight Title for almost a year. But lately, he wasn’t getting much spotlight. Therefore, when WWE offered him a bigger payday to re-sign, he turned it down because money wasn’t the issue; he wanted more for his character, not just more cash.

For the past day, the rumor mill has been abuzz with fans and insiders speculating whether Escobar would sign a last-minute deal with WWE or leave. Now WWE has made his departure official. They’ve moved him from the current superstars section to the alumni section, so he’s off the current roster and done with the company.

Ex-WWE Star Santos Escobar Might Join AEW

That being said, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer think it’s just a matter of time before Escobar heads over to AEW, and revealed in a recent report that a bunch of WWE folks are expecting him to hop over to Tony Khan’s crew next.

“Unless he signed. Yeah, unless he signed, you know, unless he signed at the last minute, he’s done. They’ve been expecting him to leave for some time. They obviously took him away from Angel and Berto for that very reason—not expecting him to stay. And yeah, he’s gone.”

“And I do know people there—it’s multiple people there—who expect him to go to AEW. I don’t know if he does or he doesn’t. He’s 41 years old. You know, I don’t know. Some people they take, some people they don’t.”

Escobar is free to go wherever he wants, and with the doors wide open, fans all over are fired up to see where he lands next.