Bully Ray Pitches For Tony Khan To Sign Zoey Stark To AEW Following Her WWE Release: ‘It’s Right There On A Silver Platter’

Published: 11 minutes ago by Connel Rumsey | Last Updated: 1 minute ago by Connel Rumsey

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WWE/AEW

WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray has pitched for Zoey Stark to become an ‘instant babyface’ in AEW following her WWE release.

The latest round of WWE talent cuts took place on Friday, when 25 confirmed names officially departed the company.

Among those names was Zoey Stark, who had not been seen on WWE television since she suffered an ACL, MCL and Meniscus tear during her match with Rhea Ripley and Kairi Sane on the May 19, 2025 episode of Raw.

Zoey had reportedly been recently cleared for an in-ring return, but was ultimately released before she could end up doing so.

Bully Ray Pitches Zoey Stark Becoming ‘Instant Babyface’ In AEW

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray opened up on Zoey’s story, and how he believes it could make her an ‘instant babyface’ in AEW if Tony Khan allowed her to tell her story.

He said:

“If you’re Tony Khan, and you invite Zoey Stark in, what’s the first thing you allow her to do? Here you go sister, here’s a microphone, you’ve got five minutes. Go tell your story, go make people love you, and if you tell your real story, not only will they love you for your determination, and your passion, and your drive, but they will hate the WWE for letting you go.

“It’s right there on a silver platter for Tony. You don’t have to do any work. Wait 90 days, sign the girl to a contract, end of story. And Zoey is good in the ring, she’d be good for your women’s division.

“(AEW) is the perfect company to do it in, but if you’re gonna allow her to go out there, and give her five minutes, and in that five minutes people emotionally connect with Zoey, give her a standing ovation, ‘thank you Zoey’, whatever it is, you’ve gotta follow it up.

“You’ve got to give Zoey time to prove that her knee is 1000%. She talked the talk, now she has to show you what she can do in the ring with her new knee, and let the world understand the WWE should have never released me.

“Zoey Stark before her injury wasn’t knocking the world on it’s ass, she wasn’t doing anything super great or awesome, I know that, you know that, she knows that too. But to get hurt in the ring, and not to be given an opportunity after you came back, I’m sorry. Every once in a while in this industry, compassion has to come into play.

“The right thing to do would have been let her have at least one more match, and if you weren’t gonna do that, then the right thing to do was a phone call from a familiar voice, at least expressing thank you for being here, for trying so hard, I’m sorry things didn’t work out, that’s the right thing to do.

“At the end of the promo what she can say is ‘all I wanted to do was see Triple H one more time and say thank you for allowing me to get back in the ring, but I never had that opportunity, so tonight I’d like to say, Tony Khan, thank you for allowing me to get back in a wrestling ring’. Dude, instant babyface.”

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Should Tony Khan Sign Recently Released WWE Names?

In recent years, the number of released WWE stars that Tony Khan has signed to AEW has become lower, as the AEW roster continues to expand and more talent fight for screen time on Dynamite and Collision.

However, among the recent wave of WWE releases, there are multiple names that AEW should look to bring in when they become available.

The most notable being the Motor City Machine Guns, who previously appeared in AEW at All Out in 2022, and had reported interest from the company prior to signing with WWE in 2024, to add to the company’s tag team division, which is one of the great strengths it holds over WWE.

There are also a number of women’s wrestlers released that would be great additions to the women’s division in AEW, notably Kairi Sane and Alba Fyre (Kay Lee Ray), which would require more time being dedicated to the division than is currently being dedicated to the women’s roster on Wednesday nights.