Wrestlers Who Will Never Work For AEW Again

After being founded in 2019, Tony Khan's All Elite Wrestling is now more than half a decade old, and in that time, the promotion has built relationships with major stars and helped develop a great deal of talent. However, it hasn't always worked out that way, with some wrestlers parting ways with AEW on poor terms. 

At this point, there are many different reasons why wrestlers have left, from backstage confrontations with co-workers, not seeing eye-to-eye with Tony Khan, or even because they felt the company broke the law. This list won't include every former AEW star who's had a problem with the promotion, though; just the most notable names who aren't likely to return. One person you won't see mentioned is Cody Rhodes, who despite leaving under mysterious circumstances, could realistically one day come back to the promotion he helped found.

Whether they quit, were fired, or some combination of the two, here are some wrestlers that you'll be unlikely to see pop up again in AEW anytime soon.

In August 2021, CM Punk made a splashy return to professional wrestling, debuting on the first episode of "AEW Rampage" in his hometown of Chicago. Sadly, it wasn't meant to last. Punk had a rocky go of things in AEW despite winning the world title about nine months into his run. A September 2022 backstage fracas involving himself, Kenny Omega, and Matt and Nick Jackson (three of the company's EVPs) led to Punk taking a long sabbatical from the company.

When Punk returned in 2023, locker room tensions immediately ran high and he soon got into another scuffle, this time with Jack Perry, during the company's biggest show of all time at the first AEW All In. Punk reportedly threatened to quit the company before going out and wrestling his match against Samoa Joe, and Khan responded by later firing Punk over the altercation.

Punk took just a couple of months off before shockingly returning to WWE. He's been a featured player there ever since, and it's hard to envision the 46-year-old making his way back to AEW before wrapping up his career.

Once one files a lawsuit against a former employer, it's hard to envision the two sides willingly working together down the road, though the aforementioned Punk proved that it's not impossible. Still, we're willing to stake our claim that Ryan Nemeth won't be wrestling in AEW again.

The brother of former WWE star Dolph Ziggler (AKA Nic Nemeth), Ryan is a former AEW wrestler who filed a civil lawsuit against AEW, Khan, and Punk in early 2025. The suit alleged that the company allowed Punk to bully Nemeth, who is friends with the Jackson brothers. Additionally, Nemeth claimed that Khan stopped employing the performer after he spoke out about the situation with Punk.

AEW eventually filed a countersuit against Nemeth, and in April 2025, the wrestler voluntarily dropped his lawsuit. Nemeth's lawyer stated that the two sides mutually agreed to move to private arbitration, and assuming Nemeth received a settlement and signed a non-disclosure agreement, the full details will likely never been publicly known. Nemeth has since joined the TNA roster, where he's become a tag team champion alongside his brother.

At one point, it seemed as though Ricky Starks was well on his way to becoming one of AEW's most prominent young wrestlers. Then, a disagreement between Starks and Khan (the full details of which still aren't publicly known) led to the booker taking Starks off TV, letting his contract dwindle.

After not wrestling in AEW for nearly a year, Starks was given his release in February 2025. Like Punk, Starks signed with WWE soon as he was able, debuting on "WWE NXT" in February 2025 as Ricky Saints. Since joining WWE, Saints offered some information on his situation in AEW via interviews, stating that he simply was not booked despite being healthy.

The speculation surrounding the situation was that Khan opted not to continue using Starks on AEW TV because he believed the wrestler was going to sign with WWE when his contract was up. Whether or not that's true, being taken out of Khan's creative plans seems to have left a bad impression on Saints, and we doubt that he'll return to AEW.

Penta and Rey Fenix were both day-one AEW stars, wrestling the Young Bucks at the company's very first show in 2019. They continued to be presented as one of the promotion's top tag teams for years afterward, but they only won the AEW World Tag Team Championship once, and the brothers eventually became disillusioned with their place in AEW.

It's still not quite clear what took place behind the scenes but, like Saints, Penta and Fenix were pulled from AEW programming in 2024. Penta's AEW deal expired later that year, while his brother's contract was extended due to time off from injuries.

Fenix eventually shared his anger on social media, stating that he'd needed to see a doctor for months but had felt ignored. Dave Meltzer later reported that Fenix, like past AEW stars including Punk, felt frustrated that they had to arrange their own appointments with doctors, rather than having a department in AEW that handled such matters.

In early 2025, Penta made his debut for WWE. A couple of months later, around the same time Starks was given his release, Khan let Fenix out of his AEW contract, and he'd later join his brother in the rival promotion.

The very first episode of "AEW Dynamite" in October 2019 ended with the formation of the Inner Circle, a faction led by Chris Jericho that also featured LAX (Santana and Ortiz), Sammy Guevara, and former WWE star Jake Hager. Hager, who wrestled as Jack Swagger in WWE, was one of the most unexpected additions to the AEW roster, though he quickly found his niche within the company, working as Jericho's muscle for almost five years. 

However, in 2024, Hager's AEW contract expired, and the wrestler later made some outrageous claims about his former boss. In a series of X posts, Hager called Khan a communist and stated the promoter had threatened his job because of social media posts made in support of Donald Trump.

Khan never publicly responded to Hager's claims, but it certainly seems as though that bridge has been burned. On top of that, Hager revealed last year that he considered himself retired from pro wrestling, and he now runs his own trucking company.