Real Reason Jay White Picked AEW Over WWE

By Michael Hamflett / April 24, 2023

"There wasn't a lot of communication" between Jay White and WWE towards the end of their negotiations ahead 'Switchblade' ultimately deciding to sign with All Elite Wrestling.

This is according to Fightful Select, who noted that there had been talks. The report said;

"However, we have been told that A WWE higher up told some within the industry that they’re still talking to talent, and hope to be hiring again sooner than later. We’ve learned that there was contact with EJ Nduka via James Kimball, and Switchblade Jay White via WWE, and that Triple H was adamant he didn’t want details of the talks leaked. William Regal and Bruce Prichard had both reached out to talent during that time. The way that it was put to us was “we haven’t been hiring people, but we’ve been talking to people.” it was also mentioned that while WWE had heavy interest in Jay White and would have loved to have had him, there wasn’t a lot of communication in the latter weeks before he got signed by AEW."

Reporting further details on White and others that may have been impacted by a provisional hiring freeze within WWE, the report added;

"WWE also had been interested in Hikuleo, Tama Tonga and bringing back Naomi and they didn’t end up landing them. We’ve also spoken to multiple free agents who said WWE outright stopped responding to them along the way."

White made his in-ring debut for AEW on the April 19th edition of Dynamite, defeating Kommander, having arrived unannounced on the April 5th edition ahead of fellow Bullet Club Gold member Juice Robinson's bout with Ricky Starks.