10 Wrestlers Who Turned Down AEW

7. Marty Scurll

CM Punk AEW
ROH

Having been named in the Speaking Out Movement last year, Marty Scurll currently finds himself as a free agent who the majority of wrestling promotions have minimal interest in.

Compare this to 2019, and at that point the Villain was likely the hottest free agent in the game, with WWE and AEW both having huge interest in the former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.

With Bullet Club brethren Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, 'Hangman' Page and the Young Bucks in AEW, it seemed like a no-brainer that Scurll would land in Tony Khan's organisation when he finally made a decision on his future. Instead, it came a little out of left-field when he spurned the advances of both AEW and WWE to sign with Ring of Honor.

Of course, a major selling point of ROH was that Scurll took on the head booker role as part of his signing, plus the deal itself was said to be the very best contract offer in ROH history.

For AEW, hindsight would suggest they're likely happy that Marty turned them down in the end.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.