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Nick Khan On Whether More AEW Talent Will Jump To WWE

WWE President Nick Khan has all the respect for the other Khan family in professional wrestling, but still expects more outside talent to be brought in from AEW.
Rick Ucchino|
WWE President Nick Khan
WWE President Nick Khan | IMAGO / MediaPunch

It doesn't sound like WWE has any plans on slowing down when it comes to acquiring outside talent, particularly when it comes to performers who are currently under contract with All Elite Wrestling.

A number of former AEW talents have debuted on WWE programming within the past several months. Ethan Page, Ricky Saints, Shawn Spears, Penta and Rey Fenix to name a few, and more are reportedly on the way in Malakai Black and Miro.

Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Jade Cargill all made their way to WWE, or back to WWE, after stints with the unequivocal top competitor to the company. All of whom will be competing at WrestleMania 41 this weekend, with Rhodes and Punk occupying spots in the main event matches this year.

WWE President Nick Khan was a guest on the Bill Simmons Podcast this week and was asked about the on-going competition with AEW, owned by Tony Khan. When it comes to signing new talent, it definitely sounds as though Nick Khan, Paul Levesque and company have their eyes of some folks.

"In terms of the other wrestling promotional company, they have a lot of talented wrestlers and we're happy about that," Khan told Simmons. "When, contractually, they are available to talk to and have conversations with, assume a number of them will come over. Nothing but respect to the father who finances it and owns the Jaguars and all those other things."

These comments come just hours after rumors began surfacing about the future of former AEW Women's Champion Mariah May, with some reportedly under the assumption that The Glamour will be heading to WWE once her current deal expires later this year.

While it's more than fair to question where WWE will find the time to utilize all of the talent they have now, the ones reportedly signed already and those who will sign in the future, Nick Khan promises they will never have someone put pen to paper on a contract just to have them sit on the sidelines.

"That's something we won't do. We won't sign and bench people. We sign people who we want to use. If another entity signs and benches people now, that's not something we would do."

H/T Fightful for transcript assistance.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com

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