AEW President Tony Khan recently shared the reasoning behind his decision to start granting releases to wrestlers. Over the past few months, AEW has parted ways with several talents who had already been absent from television for an extended period.
Notably, Malakai Black, Miro, Ricky Starks, and Rey Fenix have all been released from AEW, with Fenix being the most recent departure. Each of these wrestlers had been away from AEW programming for several months before their exits.
Miro last competed at World’s End in December 2023, where he defeated Andrade. Ricky Starks has also been off AEW television, with his last match taking place on an edition of AEW Collision in March 2024.
Malakai Black’s removal from House of Black strongly hinted at his departure, while Rey Fenix had also been inactive for months, last appearing on AEW TV in July 2024. With these stars missing from television, many reportedly requested their release from the promotion.
AEW initially resisted granting releases, but in February, reports confirmed that the promotion had let go of Black, Miro, and Starks. Earlier this week, Rey Fenix was also released this week, months after AEW had reportedly extended his contract due to injury.
While fans expected AEW to let contracts expire, the promotion has instead granted several releases. Tony Khan recently shared insight into what led him to make this decision.
AEW president Tony Khan explains his new approach to releases
During the AEW Revolution 2025 media call, Tony Khan explained his approach to granting releases. He acknowledged a shift in his philosophy, stating that each situation is evaluated individually.
He stated, “I do think it’s a case-by-case basis. I think everything is a case-by-case basis, and so much of life is a case-by-case basis. Philosophically, there is a change in what I’ve been doing. It felt like the right thing for the company and everyone involved at this point. That’s the thinking behind that. It’s on a case-by-case basis, and they are all different situations. In this case, they did have similar outcomes. It’s fair to ask why now and why I wouldn’t have done that before. I just decided that’s what I thought was the right thing to do at this point.” [H/T: Fightful]
With AEW granting releases to these four stars, all are expected to join WWE. Ricky Starks has already debuted just a day after his release as Ricky Saints. Meanwhile, Malakai Black, Miro, and Rey Fenix are anticipated to arrive in WWE soon.
