A "New Major AEW Acquisition" Arriving After CM Punk & Daniel Bryan

Not content with CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, AEW has ANOTHER major name lined up...

by Andrew Pollard
Tony Khan
AEW

Hot on the heels of CM Punk's heavily rumoured AEW debut tonight and the purported impending AEW arrival of Bryan Danielson, there's now word that AEW has another major signing lined up to follow in the footsteps of the Second City Saint and the American Dragon.

As per Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, sources close to AEW have noted how a "new major AEW acquisition" will be arriving in Tony Khan's promotion hot on the heels of Punk and Bryan.

Meltzer doesn't give any names on who this mystery person may be, although there are clearly plenty of potential candidates.

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These past several weeks have seen plenty of 'Adam Cole to AEW' speculation, with the former NXT Champion's current WWE deal expiring at the end of this month; that deal being a one-month extension after Cole's prior contract actually expired at the end of July.

Given how the Cole rumours have already been out there, would that now class as a "major" story? And if not, which names would be seen as a massive get for AEW? Would Ric Flair be deemed a big enough signing? Could it be Kazuchida Okada finally kicking his way through the forbidden door? Could we get 'real' IWGP Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay in the AEW mix? Could it be the recently-released Bray Wyatt? Could it be CM Punk's good pal Dave Bautista? Heck, could it be Brock Lesnar?

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Purely speculating here, but the most obvious post-Punk and Bryan AEW signing would seem to be Adam Cole or Ric Flair - with the Nature Boy famously close friends with Tony Khan.

Either way, such rumbling and rumours mean it's a great time to be a wrestling fan and see how such stories play out.

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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.