Why New AEW Signing Chose Not To Join WWE

Published: Mar 5, 2026 by Liam | Last Updated: Mar 5, 2026 by Liam

Liam has been reporting & analyzing wrestling news for over eight years, and is currently the Managing Editor at WrestleTalk.com. Immersed in wrestling for 18 years, he has over 11,000 published articles in addition to leading and overseeing WrestleTalk.com's coverage.

AEW/WWE

An update on the reason a new AEW star made the decision to join the promotion in WWE has now been revealed.

On last night’s AEW Dynamite, former NJPW star David Finlay made his debut appearance, officially joining fellow new signings Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors as The Dogs.

There had been plenty of talk in recent weeks about the possibility of Finlay joining WWE, with his father Fit Finlay being a coach and producer in NXT, and David’s brother Uriah Connors active on the NXT roster.

In a new update on why Finlay ended up in AEW, Dave Meltzer reported the following on Wrestling Observer Radio:

“The deal with Finlay was he’d been talking to TNA, he’d been talking to AEW, he’d been talking to WWE. AEW made the best offer of the three, and that’s your answer.

“The story going around was WWE did not make him a good offer. As soon as I think they knew he wasn’t coming, we started with this, ‘Oh we didn’t really want him’ stuff.

“‘We wanted him in NXT and we didn’t offer him anything.’ And it may even be true, but that’s just interesting how the timing of everything was.

“But all three groups were interested. AEW was the most interested and that’s where he went.”

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