A new update has provided information on the budget that AEW is working with when it comes to signing talent. While the company has brought in a lot of people since its inception, others have not been given huge contracts when they’ve tried to get signed.
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that AEW does have a budget when it comes to talent. Two unnamed wrestlers had attempted to get an offer from the company, however, they were not given huge deals. If Tony Khan is able to get a big television deal at the start of 2024 then they will have an increase in cash that will likely be spent on signing new talent.
The company recently debuted Keith Lee, while Mercedes Martinez was added to the roster as well. There have also been rumors that AEW is interested in both Jeff Hardy and Josh Alexander. They are two men not working for another company right now.
The AEW President recently spoke with TVInsider about how he has kept people around so far. Even if he’s not using them, Tony Khan has had people under contract. This is because he wants to provide job security.
“When we started a lot of people had contracts that were a couple of years long and a lot of them are coming up. I have really tried hard to be very considerate of the people on the roster. Especially going through the pandemic,” Tony Khan added. “That encompassed a long period of time where we were still in our first year of television and going into our second.
“I kept a lot of people under contract even though I wasn’t necessarily using them on television. Because I wanted them to still have paying work. Which was hard to come by for wrestling during the pandemic where there weren’t any independent shows. Really only two places were running and the other place was cutting people left and right. I did want to give some job security to people.”
