New Signing Turns Down WWE For AEW (AEW News)
AAA star decides to sign with AEW instead of WWE - debuts new character on Collision.
Luchablog has confirmed that ex-AAA star Arez will assume the role of "El Clon" on AEW television for a feud opposite fellow luchador Hologram. The company ran an angle on last week's episode of Collision which saw Hologram's celebrations (after beating Jay Lethal) cut short by a video that introduced his clone.
That doppelgänger will be played by Arez.
The lucha source also revealed that WWE initially fancied signing Arez to a deal, but he's decided to link up with Tony Khan's promotion instead. WWE had been impressed by his performances in AAA and for other outfits like GCW, but Arez eventually plumped for All Elite over Triple H's offer.
Now, he'll work as an 'evil twin' to Hologram on episodes of AEW TV. Some wrestling fans are naturally drawing parallels between this and the old Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara story WWE ran in 2011. That led to one taking over from the other full-time under the mask. This is unlikely to happen in AEW, but it is interesting to think about the similarities.
WWE wanted to tie the 33 year old down to a contract, but he fielded another offer from Khan and chose to go with AEW in the end. This won't be considered some hammer blow internally by Trips or others, but it does show that All Elite has some muscle to throw around when competing with the competition for any available names or free agents.
At time of writing, it's unclear whether or not Arez will wrestle as himself as well as the "El Clon' character. AEW had previously trademarked that name last year.