Backstage Report On Daniel Garcia's AEW Contract Status

Over the last several years, Daniel Garcia has emerged as one of the top young prospects in professional wrestling. Garcia has been signed with AEW since 2021, and over the last few months, the company has been confident about locking down the young wrestler with a new contract soon. However, according to Dave Meltzer on "Wrestling Observer Radio," Garcia's recent TV absence is due to an increasing chance that he might be bound for WWE.

"I don't think they want to put him on TV until he makes the commitment," Meltzer said. "The strong confidence that he was signed — I wouldn't say it's as strong, but I wouldn't say he's leaving, either. But it's not as strong as it was a month ago — he may leave."

According to Meltzer, the first sign that something may be amiss between Garcia and AEW was the fact that the wrestler hadn't signed a new contract ahead of his match against MJF at AEW All Out earlier this month. Meltzer previously stated that the reason Garcia lost the All Out match was because he had not yet signed his next AEW contract.

Though he did not defeat MJF, Garcia came out of the bout looking strong, even beating down his opponent after the bell rang. However, neither man has appeared on TV since, with Garcia's AEW contract reportedly set to expire sometime in the coming months and WWE said to be eager to bring the young star over.

While not always the case, AEW owner Tony Khan has often chosen not to utilize performers who are believed to be heading to WWE when their contracts expire. Meltzer cited Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix as examples of this, as the two disappeared from AEW programming around the time rumors emerged that they were likely leaving.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.