Trey Miguel’s release from AEW has reportedly been met with frustration within the promotion. Miguel and the rest of The Rascalz—Zachary Wentz, Dezmond Xavier, and Myron Reed—signed with AEW in early January. However, when The Rascalz made their debut at Collision Maximum Carnage, Miguel was nowhere to be seen. He announced one day later on Sunday, January 18, that he was taking a break from pro wrestling, with reports soon revealing that he had been released by AEW.
Reports noted the decision “came from up above” and was not related to AEW or Tony Khan. It has been suggested that Warner Bros. Discovery may have blocked Miguel from appearing on AEW TV due to past comments, a situation similar to what happened with Jay Briscoe. Fightful Select has now reported that the word relayed to Miguel was that his release was a decision above AEW, heavily implied to have been a WBD decision.
Fightful was told the release was due to a homophobic post Miguel made in 2020 which he quickly apologized for. No other posts were factored into the decision. Following a troll comment on Facebook in March 2020, Miguel responded with homophobic comments.
“Obviously you’re gay. Most people as unattractive as you become gay out of fear of rejection from the opposite sex. So you find comfort, ability and familiarity in the same sex and end up matching someone who’s the same as you… gay. Because there’s no other f*cking options. You ugly b*tch… [Yeah], truth’s a b*tch,” Miguel wrote.
Miguel apologized at the time, stating, “I’m not anti‑LGBTQ+. I made some very mean comments to a member of the community in regards to why they were a member and it wasn’t right or tasteful. Regardless of the comments made to get me to such an ugly place, I was wrong and I’m not afraid to admit it. Two of my very best friends are members of said community and I’d take a bullet [for] either of them. I won’t try to justify anything I said but I will apologize like a man. If I offended you then I’m genuinely sorry. Please find it in your hearts to forgive me. If you can’t forgive me, I do not blame you. But this world needs more love than hate and I’m sorry for contributing to the less desired of the two.”
Fightful reported the internal AEW reaction was frustration as Miguel and The Rascalz have positive relationships within the promotion. A number of wrestlers also believed the standards applied to AEW talent do not apply to other personalities who work on Warner Bros. Discovery shows. Fightful noted that so far they haven’t found a single person in AEW that was in favor of Miguel being released.
Miguel hinted his release was due to his past comments on Monday. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my time. I’ve always apologized and did my best to put a better foot forward after. I don’t preach hate and I don’t take any pride in being hateful. I’m a man of faith, I believe in forgiveness and only ever preach that. I’m a different man today.”
This is just a snippet of the story. For complete details, please visit Fightful Select at Patreon.com/Fightful.
