Trey Miguel’s AEW Exit Tied to Past Controversy—Not Tony Khan, Talent, or Creative

Trey Miguel’s abrupt disappearance from AEW has finally come into focus—and it has nothing to do with Tony Khan, creative decisions, or the locker room.

On the January 20 episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer confirmed that Miguel’s expected AEW debut was dropped after past comments from his social media history resurfaced, sparking corporate-level concern. While Miguel had previously apologized for the remarks, AEW appears to have quietly backed away under pressure—drawing comparisons to the Jay Briscoe–WBD situation.

“Well, I mean, you let the cat out of the bag. Now everyone’s coming up with these things that he did years and years ago, and I mean, it’s out there and he responded,” Meltzer said.

“His response pretty much indicated that he’s very sorry. The thing is, he said something in—there’s like one in 2019, 2020—one was in an argument he had with David Starr. And David Starr, who’s been disappeared off the face of the Earth until today, came out and basically said, ‘Hey, we were younger. He’s a great guy,’ like, really, really feeling bad for the guy.”

Meltzer also made it clear that the second incident was the more serious one, but emphasized that Miguel apologized immediately at the time.

“Some people say really stupid stuff all the time constantly and are really assholes about it. Other people may say something bad and just go, ‘Oh my God…’ I saw the article in question, and the quotes are bad, but again, like I said, he apologized immediately.”

Bryan Alvarez explained that the situation mirrors what happened with Jay Briscoe, where Warner Bros Discovery wouldn’t allow Briscoe to appear on AEW programming despite his multiple public apologies.

“This appears very much like the Jay Briscoe situation where he said things, apologized, did everything he could to make it right, and it didn’t matter. WBD was not going to allow him on programming—and they never did.”

Alvarez also revealed that AEW had tried to bring Miguel in back in 2020 but were blocked even then—implying that Tony Khan may have believed time had changed things.

“Maybe Tony thought five or six years later, we’ll sign him—and it turns out that wasn’t going to fly.”

Meltzer confirmed this theory lines up with what Miguel and his camp believe.

“This is very clearly what Trey Miguel believes is the reason [for being pulled]… There are people who think there may be another reason—but we don’t have any other information on it. This is what Trey Miguel and others around him believe is the cause.”

Miguel’s only public statement so far was a brief, emotional message asking fans to respect his space and confirming he was “stepping away from the business.” AEW never officially announced his signing—or his release.

Do you think AEW was right to pull back from signing Trey Miguel? Should past apologies be enough in situations like this? Let us know where you stand in the comments.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.