Potential new WWE free agent signings: Four AEW stars with contracts expiring soon

WWE

2026 has seen some big names enter the free agent market, with WWE alone seeing Sheamus, The New Day (New Level), Ilja Dragunov, Malakai Black and Kairi Sane either get released, or exit at the end of their contracts.

While WWE has let many go, they’ve also acquired a lot of new talent as well, some of which were formerly in AEW such as Danhausen and Royce Keys.

With some interesting names potentially set to depart AEW at the end of their contracts, we could see even more make their way to WWE before the end of the year.

Here are four AEW stars with expiring contracts that could potentially join WWE.

Scorpio Sky

Back in June it was reported that former two-time AEW TNT Champion Scorpio Sky’s AEW contract was set to expire in “a few months.” Sky then seemingly confirmed this during an appearance on Tagging In With Chris Harris, saying he was focused on finishing this chapter of his career “the right way.”

While Sky remains on the AEW roster at present, there has been no word on whether he’s been approached about a new deal. So, it’s certainly seeming like he could be on the way out before the end of 2026.

While his age (43) will certainly limit how much of a push he gets, Sky could certainly lend his experience to NXT in a similar way to Shawn Spears since he re-signed with WWE in 2024.

Max Caster

According to Fightful, former AEW World Tag Team Champion Max Caster’s contract is due to expire in October, and based on his zero AEW in-ring appearances in 2026, it certainly doesn’t seem like the company have plans to retain him.

At 37, Caster wouldn’t be coming into WWE and getting a massive push or anything, but he’s an entertaining talker and could certainly get himself over in a similar way to how he did in AEW both in The Acclaimed and as a singles act with his Best Wrestler Alive Open Challenge.

But he may not be entering free agency alone…

Anthony Bowens

As well as Caster, it has been reported that Anthony Bowens’ AEW deal is also due to expire in October.

Unlike his former tag team partner Caster, Bowens has been featured on AEW programming this year, and even travelled to Wembley Stadium to compete in the opening match of the All In London: Buy In show.

However, it has been reported that WWE have “at least some” interest in Bowens’ signature, so of all the possibilities on this list, this one may have the most weight to it.

Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen)

One AEW contract situation that was the subject of a ton of speculation last year was that of Private Party.

A June 2025 report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed that Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen’s contracts were up “very soon” and at that point they hadn’t been seen on AEW TV for the majority of the year.

WWE’s interest in them was then reported afterwards, however, to the surprise of many, Kassidy and Quen returned to AEW Dynamite in February 2026, after 13 months off TV. It has not been confirmed that they signed new deals, but they do remain under contract for now.

Their current injury absences, and time away last year may mean that time could potentially have been added to their deals, but until we hear that they’ve re-signed with AEW, they will remain linked to WWE.

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