Megan Bayne: What You Need To Know About The AEW Dynamite Debutant (AEW News)

Megan Bayne wrestled her first AEW match since 2023 on Dynamite's Maximum Carnage special last night, appearing on the company's flagship show for the first time in her career as part of the women's Casino Gauntlet match.

'Megasus' was a surprise entrant in a bout designed to crown Women's World Champion Mariah May's next number one contender. Toni Storm won, setting up a title rematch in Brisbane, Australia next month, with Harley Cameron, Jamie Hayter, Julia Hart, Kris Statlander, and Willow Nightingale also entering the Gauntlet.

For Bayne, it was a return to AEW after a lengthy absence, having been signed to the Tony Khan-helmed promotion in 2023. Fightful Select notes that there was talk of creative pitches for Bayne in 2024, though it later emerged that at some stage, Megan was no longer contracted to AEW.

Bayne wrestled four Dark and Dark: Elevation matches for AEW in 2021, notably beating Leila Grey at a 29 December taping. She completed two further matches in January and February 2022 but suffered a torn ACL, sidelining her for nine months. In June 2023, she returned for a tag defeat, teaming with Emi Sakura against Maki Itoh and Willow Nightingale at a Rampage taping.

Amid talk of an AEW future, Bayne debuted for leading joshi group Stardom, entering a high-level program with Wonder of Stardom Champion Tam Nakano from the off. She was in Japan until January 2024 and has since become a staple on the American indie circuit, most notably for Game Changer Wrestling, where she has been pushed heavily.

Whether or not Bayne has signed a new AEW contract was unclear at the time of writing. Nonetheless, the promotion would be taking a considerable risk by placing her in such a prominent Casino Gauntlet spot without tying up her future. Regardless, at 26, Bayne is amongst the brightest prospects on the American independents and surely somebody subjected to significant interest from companies with television deals.