When Mariah May Told AEW She Wasn’t Re-Signing
The former AEW Women’s Champion Mariah May has let the company know she wants to move on.
Mariah May made her debut in AEW in late 2023 after a successful run in Stardom in Japan. The talented British star was immediately put into a storyline with “Timeless” Toni Storm with May acting as if she idolized Storm and wanted to be like her.
Even though May was on the AEW roster for less than a year, she won the 2023 Women’s Owen Hart Cup and turned on Storm after that to set up their All In 2024 in England.
At AEW All In 2024, Mariah May beat Toni Storm to become the AEW Women’s World Champion in her home country of England. The two went on to have a long rivalry that saw Storm get the title back and Storm won a bloody blow off match at AEW Revolution last month.
While May has been away from AEW television since Revolution, she dropped a cryptic message on her Instagram stories that have teased a possible AEW exit.
You can’t make the wrong decision because every decision leads you to where you’re supposed to be
That post from May also included a photo that she tagged being in Orlando, Florida, which led to speculation that she was referencing WWE because of the company’s Performance Centre in Orlando.
It has been reported that May’s AEW deal is likely expriing at some point this summer, but there are some more details about her status with the company.
Mariah May Wants To Go To WWE
The future of Mariah May appears to be WWE, as rumored. Dave Meltzer reports in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Mariah May wants to be a WWE superstar.
“May hasn’t been on television since the Revolution PPV which was the blow-off of her feud with Toni Storm. I noted many times that I was surprised at doing that match at that time because it was such a hot feud and didn’t need a final blow-off after just three matches. Apparently May made it clear at that time that she was not signing a new deal and so they booked it at that time for that reason.”
There have been multiple wrestlers in the last year who AEW has effectively benched because they wanted to go to WWE, including Ricky Starks (Ricky Saints in WWE), Penta and Rey Fenix. Meltzer went on to write about how AEW’s Tony Khan handles those situations.
Tony Khan usually doesn’t use wrestlers that he thinks are leaving on television, although every case is different because he did use William Regal until the end, but Regal also agreed to an early release with a clause that he couldn’t appear on WWE television for one year. There have been stories going around that she signed a two-year deal which will be up in a few months.
What has happened in other cases (Penta and Fenix among them) is they want to start renewal talks and the performer seems to make it clear from those talks they aren’t signing. When that’s the case, Khan normally takes the person off television.
We can’t confirm the time frame but can confirm that there has been talk in WWE regarding her coming in with it being known by key people in WWE the belief that she wants to come in. She’s another one whose dream had always been WWE, to the point that I was surprised when she first signed the deal with AEW out of Stardom, although her AEW stardom was her ticket to being pushed as a star from day one in WWE.
Mariah May has already accomplished a lot in her career and is just 26 years old, so she has a bright future wherever she goes in pro wrestling.