8 Wrestlers Who Have VANISHED From AEW (... And WHY!)
From All Elite to AWOL - where are these missing AEW stars?
AEW has been on a rich run of form since 2025 and into 2026. The stories are hot, the talent are largely getting over with fans, and people are generally over the moon with how things are shaping up for the year ahead. This current wave of goodwill comes despite some of the biggest performers on the AEW roster being missing from the company for a litany of different reasons.
Some of these absences have been gone for so long that fans can be forgiven for forgetting they were still part of Tony Khan's promotion, while others have only been gone for a few months and are likely to be back at some point in the near future. Then there are those names that are constantly in the news, as they're expected to jump ship to WWE and cause a big splash when doing so.
This is a list that delves into these superstar wrestlers who are MIA, rummaging through the rumour mill to discover what has kept them off-screen for so long, and when (or if) they are likely to resurface in an AEW ring.
8. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho has been the subject of many rumours in the 10 months he's been away from television. Most fans were fully expecting him to turn up on the build to this year's Royal Rumble or as a surprise entrant in the match itself, but when he remained on the AEW Roster page and didn't appear in Riyadh, speculation began to mount around Chris's next move.
According to the news cycle, it appears as though Tony Khan has added time to Jericho's contract for his time away from his company. This could include time he's missed due to injury, or more likely, the time he's missed while on tour with Fozzy. This petulance has become a frustrating element to departures from both WWE and AEW, but with Chris it has an extra layer.
Jericho is a legend of the game and, as he turns 56 this year, we are in the final innings of his in-ring career. This is his final hurrah, and the sooner people behind the scenes stop acting like children and let him get on with revealing what he has in store for his last dance, the better.