WWE Moves To Block AEW's Joey Ryan Offer, Tag Team Leaving: Report

Pro-wrestler Joey Ryan, who is known as Magnum in the independent wrestling circles, is said to be debating between offers from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as he bids goodbye to the indie scene. He has spoken to both the rival promotions but is yet to make a decision.

While AEW is legitimately looking to build its roster with top talent from across the globe, according to pro-wrestling expert Dave Meltzer, WWE is only looking to sign him to ensure that its rival AEW does not get him.

The WWE offer is not said to be too impressive at the moment, but either way, if the promotion does sign Ryan, it is expected to ice him and not put him on the main roster. AEW, on the other hand, could give him a role in its first live event “Double or Nothing” in May or the next event later in the year.

“I mean it’s AEW or WWE so, you know,” Meltzer said, as quoted on NoDQ.com. “The things with WWE is that WWE will pay people to take him off the board because they know he’s going to AEW. I mean that’s the one thing that’s going on there. I mean like I don’t know of them even contacting him for ten years and then like whatever it was last week they contacted him.”

“They contacted him as soon as he got the Lucha Underground release with the idea that he’s being all over Being The Elite, but he’s not signed and everyone else on Being The Elite is signed. I mean I know they’re figuring he wouldn’t be all over that thing on AEW if those guys didn’t have ideas for him, but he’s not signed so now WWE can take a guy in the middle of those storylines,” he added.

The WWE offer may be limited at the moment but it will have to improve the offer even if it is planning on not using him on the main roster, as it is now clear that AEW has the financial clout to match any offer WWE makes.

“I mean the impression I got was the offer wasn’t anything special. I mean they wouldn’t put him on the main roster, I can’t imagine that. I mean it would just to take him to ice him, that would be the only reason. To do that you’re going to have to make an offer on a certain level because you already know that AEW is going to make an offer on a certain level. I mean so, it’s interesting. I think the imaginations going on right now between AEW and WWE, it’s really interesting,” Meltzer said.

Ryan is a popular figure on the independent scene and has a pretty large following on social media too, with over 400,000 people subscribing to his YouTube channel. It remains to be seen if he will be lured by WWE’s worldwide popularity or join the newly formed AEW that is looking to challenge the former’s dominance, at least in North America.

Meanwhile, WWE looks to be losing more talent as the months progress with PW Insider reporting that tag team duo Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have turned down the offer of new contracts from WWE and will walk away when their contracts expire in September.

The former RAW tag team champions were drafted to the red brand from SmackDown Live during the latest superstar shakeup and they had their first match against The Usos on Monday. And they could even be expected to team up with former Bullet Club member AJ Styles, who also moved to RAW from SmackDown.