Former AEW Champion Out Of Action (AEW News)

AEW's Maya World is currently not cleared to compete.

by Andrew Pollard
Maya World
AEW

Having lost the AEW TBS Championship to Persephone at All In last month, it looks like Maya World is unfortunately set for a spell on the sidelines.

Per Fightful Select, Maya underwent an unspecified procedure last week that means she'll be out of action for a while. As for a potential return timeframe, no further details are known, but there's hope that she'll be able to return to the ring "soon". Due to this procedure, the 24-year-old has had to cancel upcoming independent dates, with her most recent match being a six-woman tag bout on last week's Rebel Heart special edition of AEW Dynamite.

Fair to say, 2026 has been quite the breakout year for Maya World, reaching the final of the Women's Owen Hart Cup Tournament after stepping in as a late replacement for the injured Saree. Maya would ultimately come up short against Mercedes Moné in that Owen final, but she'd follow that up by defeating Hikaru Shida for the TBS Title at Redemption in July.

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Speaking of Mercedes Moné, this Maya World news comes at a time when the AEW Women's Champion Mercedes has also been ruled out of action, with the CEO not yet cleared to compete after breaking her nose in the match against Willow Nightingale at All In. While Mercedes may not be ready to lace up her boots right now, All Out will see Willow and Thekla battle it out to become the number one contender for Moné's belt.

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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 and Presenter, 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 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.