Close to a dozen sources within AEW have expressed a desire to sign Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods following their WWE departure, with Fightful Select reporting an unusually unified internal push for the signing.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, almost no dissent has emerged among those spoken to within AEW about the prospect of bringing the New Day duo into the promotion. Typically at least one person within an organization raises concerns about a potential signing, but that has not been the case here. Fightful noted that both Kingston and Woods are universally respected within AEW and that a number of big names in the promotion have been actively making an internal push for the two to end up there.
Kingston and Woods are both subject to 90-day non-compete clauses following their WWE departure, which would put them available in late July or early August. Bobby Lashley has been among the most vocal AEW names about wanting them in the company, recently pitching them joining the Hurt Syndicate on The Danny Ocean Show.
“Man, I tell you what, I think the problem that we have right now is that the Hurt Syndicate is too strong. If we bring those guys on there, we’d be just unstoppable. I don’t think there’s any guess game in what’s going to happen next. I think Kofi and Woods, I think they’re just amazing talent, and I think that anybody and everybody is going to throw in their money to try to pick those guys up. Hopefully they come to AEW, and if they do, we’ll try to get them if we can because I would love to be able to work with those guys,” Lashley said.
The Young Bucks, FTR, Swerve Strickland, Will Ospreay, and MJF have also publicly reacted positively to the news of their WWE exit, with the Young Bucks revealing they actively pursued an Elite vs. New Day match as far back as 2018.
This is just a snippet of the story. For complete details, please visit Fightful Select at Patreon.com/Fightful.
