Piper Niven was one of the first wrestlers to be offered a contract with All Elite Wrestling before the company officially launched in 2019. The revelation came from former AEW and WWE star Bea Priestley (Blair Davenport) in a new interview, where she detailed how she, Niven, and Kip Sabian were all offered deals by Cody and Brandi Rhodes during a tour of England in December 2018.
Speaking to “That Sweet Pop,” Priestley recalled the story of the “Fight Forever” tour in the UK, which took place just before AEW was officially announced. The tour featured a mix of independent stars and the future founders of AEW. “I got picked up with AEW because there was a British tour over Christmas in 2018, I think it was called Fight Forever… They had me on it, Piper was on it, and Cody and Brandi were on it. So was Kip Sabian,” Priestley said.
She explained that both she and Piper had impressive matches with Brandi Rhodes, which led to contract offers for them and Kip Sabian. “Basically, I had a match with Brandi and Cody loved it. Brandi was really happy. Piper, the same thing, had a match with Brandi and they were really happy. They basically offer me, Kip, and Piper a contract,” she revealed. “Piper had already signed with NXT UK. She couldn’t do it, but Kip was like, ‘Yes, I want to move to America.’”
Priestley herself was hesitant to sign a full-time deal at the time because she still wanted to work in Japan for STARDOM. “I was like, ‘I still want to do Japan.’ [AEW] hadn’t started at that point and I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t want to jump, no pun intended, all in, to something where I’m not technically sure what I’m getting into,” she explained. AEW then offered her a part-time deal that would allow her to continue working for STARDOM, which she accepted.
Priestley would eventually sign with WWE’s NXT UK brand, where she competed as Blair Davenport before being called up to the main roster and later released. Piper Niven, who had already committed to NXT UK, remains a part of the SmackDown brand today as a member of the Secret Hervice faction with Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre.
The full interview with Bea Priestley can be heard on the “That Sweet Pop” podcast.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription
