Kenny Omega Was #1 On WWE’s ‘Most Wanted List’

AEW was able to lock The Elite down for new contracts, and now they are not going anywhere. There was certainly some thought that WWE might be a tempting enough landing pad for Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Adam “Hangman” Page, but Tony Khan was able to make sure that they don’t go anywhere. That being said, WWE certainly wanted The Cleaner.

The Elite already made a pact that they would all go to the same place together. That being said, they are sticking around AEW. No contract offers were made by WWE, because they didn’t want to engage in contract tampering, but there was a lot of interest there.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that WWE wouldn’t have been able to even pitch a contract to The Elite before their AEW deals ran out. That being said, Kenny Omega was the “number one most wanted” star on WWE’s wish list.

As noted, WWE had significant interest in Omega, whose deal time frame had expired on 2/1 but his time frame was extended due to his taking nine months off via injury. The other three were under contract until the end of 2023 so WWE wouldn’t have been able to pitch for them for many months. No formal offers could have been legally made for months but Omega was No. 1 on the company’s most wanted list. All four would have been in a great position in an open market so Khan must have made a strong deal to get them to stay without even strongly playing the WWE card. The Young Bucks, Page and Omega were repped by Barry Bloom in their negotiations, who has also in the past been the agent of Paul Levesque and is the current agent of Chris Jericho, Bill Goldberg and others.

Advertising

Advertising

Kenny Omega can continue telling his stories in AEW now. He is going to retain his EVP title along with the Young Bucks. That being said, The Cleaner will probably still be heavily involved in AEW Games and his in-ring activity as well.

Only time will tell what The Elite is able to do in AEW, and what angles are in their future. It is believed that they actually inked new contracts prior to Blood & Guts, but they were asked to keep quiet about the new deals, so they could break the news prior to Dynamite’s 200th episode. Now, they will be around for 200 more episodes, at least.

What’s your take on The Elite staying in AEW? Should they have given WWE a shot to see what they were offering? Sound off in the comments to let us know what you think!