AEW kicked off October with Andrade’s shocking return to the promotion, after he was reportedly fired by WWE. The angle was a big deal and included an attack on Kenny Omega, which is why Andrade’s absence
from AEW programming since then has been so strange. All we’ve really heard on the rumor mill is that the situation isn’t “AEW or Andrade’s specific fault.”
On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez said they heard Andrade’s mysterious absence is related to the 90-day non-compete clause in his WWE contract.
Alvarez: “I don’t know what’s going on with Andrade, but I was told that he’s not hurt. He didn’t get himself fired. But apparently something is up involving his WWE non-compete.”
Meltzer: “That’s the rumor going around.”
Alvarez: “Yes…I was given the impression it could be something that could be resolved quickly, or it could be something that might not be resolved for a while. But it’s something related to the non-compete.”
Meltzer: “Well that would be 90 days, if there is a non-compete.”
Alvarez: “When he was fired, remember we were told they didn’t care?”
Meltzer: “Yeah. Well, maybe they decided to care.”
Alvarez: “And I mean, he showed up.”
Meltzer: “The fact he didn’t do a match doesn’t matter. You are not allowed on that television if you have a non-compete, and he was on that television.”
Alvarez: “There’s a lot of questions here about what exactly happened.”
Meltzer: “Yeah. But that is what I’ve been hearing, was that WWE sent a letter. They obviously didn’t know. Put it this way, AEW obviously believed that there was no non-compete. There were people who talked to people in WWE who also believed that there was no non-compete. But WWE apparently, you know, that’s the story, is that they said that he can’t do them for 90 days. So he’s gonna be in AEW, at least, most likely.”
So, I guess Andrade can’t do AEW until this matter with WWE is resolved, which might happen quickly, or might take a while longer.
What’s your reaction to this story, Cagesiders?
