Tay Melo Removed From AEW's Roster Page After Asking For Release Over The Summer

After nearly six years, it appears that Tay Melo's time with AEW has come to an end. Earlier on Wednesday, Fightful reported that Melo had been removed from AEW's roster page on the promotion's website. While there has been no official confirmation from either Melo or AEW, this would strongly suggest that Melo is no longer with the promotion, and is now officially free and clear to sign with any other promotion.

The news will not come as a shock to anyone, as Melo was reported to have requested her release from AEW earlier in the summer. At a press scrum soon after, AEW owner Tony Khan confirmed that Melo had requested her release after she and Anna Jay lost an AEW Women's Tag Team Championship match to Divine Dominion. According to Khan, Melo had stated that she had wanted to step away from wrestling, though Melo would later tell a fan she wasn't retired. Regardless, Khan stated he intended to grant Melo her release, which appears to be the case several months later.

A black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Melo began her wrestling career with WWE, wrestler in "NXT" under the name Tay Conti. She would stay with WWE for four years before being released as part of a wave of cuts brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020; by August, she began working with AEW and was officially announced as signed in September.

Though she'd never win a championship during her AEW tenure, Melo received praise for her improvement from her time in WWE, and became known for her AEW Women's World Championship challenge against Hikaru Shida, and her tag team with Jay known as TayJay. During her time in AEW, she would meet fellow wrestler Sammy Guevara; the two would marry in August 2022, and Melo would give birth to their daughter, Luna, in November 2023.