WWE and AEW have been bidding on free agents since the rival promotion launched in 2019, with Tony Khan looking to make waves in the pro wrestling business since the glory days of TNA Wrestling and the heights of WCW.
With that comes big money and big opportunities for talent in WWE and All Elite Wrestling. One star who cashed in on this was Brian Cage, who signed with AEW in 2020. His contract was set to expire in 2022 before the promotion picked up his option year, and he later signed another contract. He has been used across AEW and ROH television.
While speaking with Dan Severn and Eric Carroll on their ‘Unleashed’ show, the AEW star revealed that his agent had talks with both WWE and AEW before inking a new long-term deal with AEW.
“My contract was coming up last year with AEW, and I was going back and forth with WWE and AEW with my agent. You know, trying to see where we should fit, and there’s pros and cons to both and a big reason — I mean, there’s a lot of reasons, but a reason big to stay with AEW was the fact that there was a lot more certainty so to speak. It’s not necessarily a guaranteed contract but more, for lack of a better term, the contract was essentially guaranteed compared to WWE’s which is — I mean, I could be signed there today, gone tomorrow, you know what I mean?”
Cage brought up how he had to think about himself and his young family as AEW gave him more security for them. He put over AEW President Tony Khan for creating a family-like atmosphere in AEW and comes across someone who cares about people on his roster.
H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription
