Abadon, Bear Bronson Leave AEW As Contracts Expire (AEW News)

Abadon and Bear Bronson are now free agents after leaving AEW.

by Andrew Pollard
Abadon Bear Bronson
AEW/X @bearbronsonBC

With the WWE exits of R-Truth and Carlito shocking the wrestling world when that news broke last night, a couple of now-former AEW talents have officially become free agents.

Abadon took to X to confirm that their AEW contract was up on 1 June, meaning they're now a free agent and looking to take booking enquiries at bookabadonhere@gmail.com.

Having made their in-ring debut in 2019, Abadon first appeared for AEW the following year, losing to Hikaru Shida on a March 2020 episode of Dark. By that June, the Living Dead Girl officially became #AllElite.

In a somewhat stop-start run in AEW, the most notable time of Abadon's spell with the promotion saw them have a couple of shots at the AEW Women's Championship when it was held by Hikaru Shida. Abadon has not actually wrestled for AEW since December 2023, where they lost to then-TBS Champion Julia Hart at Worlds End.

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Abadon wrestled semi-regularly for Ring of Honor through 2024 and into the start of 2024, though they've only had five matches in total this year, the most recent being a win over Sonny Kiss at GCW Effy's Big Gay Brunch 10 during WrestleMania Weekend.

As well as Abadon, another star who is now a free agent after the expiration of their AEW contract is Bear Bronson. Fightful Select notes that Bronson was well-liked in AEW, but his booking - or lack thereof - was a "byproduct" of his former tag team partner Bear Boulder's arrest and subsequent firing from AEW earlier in the year.

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This year marks Bear Bronson's tenth year in the wrestling business, making his debut in 2015 after being trained at Brian Myers and Pat Buck's Create A Pro Academy.

By the end of 2017, Bronson would start to team with Bear Boulder - or Beefcake/Bear Beefcake, as he was known then - and the two would become Bear Country. That tandem is another that would make its AEW debut in 2020, first appearing on Dark in a loss to the Dark Order. The second half of 2022 would see Bear Country rebranded as the Iron Savages and drop the Bear from their own respective names, becoming simply Bronson and Boulder.

There were times when the Iron Savages started to get some momentum behind them, particularly during the early days of AEW Collision and with Jacked Jameson at their side, and fans started to very much get behind their smash-mouth style. By then having again tweaked their names to Bulk Bronson and Beefcake Boulder, the Iron Savages' final AEW match came back in November, where they lost a Collision match to the Outrunners.

A couple of ROH matches followed that Outrunners bout, but the Iron Savages obviously stopped being a team earlier this year due to the firing of Thomas Wansaw/Bear Boulder. Since then, Bear Bronson has stayed busy on the independent circuit as a singles act, competing as recently as yesterday, where he was in action for Mystery Wrestling up in Quebec, Canada. For those interested in booking Bronson, you can contact him at bbronson1113@gmail.com.

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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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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.