Backstage News On Cole Karter’s AEW Status

Troy "Two Dimes" Donovan may sleep with the fishes these days, but Cole Karter finds himself swimming upstream, as seen by his appearance last night on "AEW Dynamite," where he unsuccessfully challenged Ricky Starks for the FTW Championship. And if a new report is true, fans should get used to seeing more of Karter on AEW programming.

According to Fightful Select, sources within AEW say that Karter and the promotion reached an agreement after Karter's match last night with Ricky Starks. Upon asking further, Fightful was told that the agreement was for a tiered deal.

While the exact nature of AEW's tiered contracts isn't known, this news makes it unlikely that Karter will get the famous "Cole Karter is All Elite!" graphic just yet. That said, the former "NXT 2.0" talent was excited enough about the opportunity that Fightful noted he was telling others in the AEW locker room of his agreement last night.

Though he's best known for his time in "NXT," Karter's first major exposure actually came with AEW in 2021. The 22-year-old West Virginia native wrestled 9 times for the promotion between "AEW Dark" and "AEW Dark: Elevation," losing all nine matches before joining WWE in January 2022. As Troy Donovan, Karter would become a key ally to Tony D'Angelo in "NXT 2.0" before he was released in June, reportedly due to a wellness policy issue. Though it was reported Karter could be brought back to WWE within a year, he was later "killed off" on "NXT" TV, hinting WWE had no future plans to use him again.

AEW fans looking to see some more of Karter will now turn their attention to a future episode of "AEW Dark." Karter was spotted working the recent tapings for the YouTube show this past weekend, reportedly picking up a victory against Mike Orlando in singles action.