Real Reason Jay White Picked AEW Over WWE

'The Switchblade' was potentially set for a WWE move, until...

Jay White AEW
AEW

"There wasn't a lot of communication" between Jay White and WWE towards the end of their negotiations ahead 'Switchblade' ultimately deciding to sign with All Elite Wrestling.

This is according to Fightful Select, who noted that there had been talks. The report said;

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"However, we have been told that A WWE higher up told some within the industry that they’re still talking to talent, and hope to be hiring again sooner than later. We’ve learned that there was contact with EJ Nduka via James Kimball, and Switchblade Jay White via WWE, and that Triple H was adamant he didn’t want details of the talks leaked. William Regal and Bruce Prichard had both reached out to talent during that time. The way that it was put to us was “we haven’t been hiring people, but we’ve been talking to people.” it was also mentioned that while WWE had heavy interest in Jay White and would have loved to have had him, there wasn’t a lot of communication in the latter weeks before he got signed by AEW."

Reporting further details on White and others that may have been impacted by a provisional hiring freeze within WWE, the report added;

"WWE also had been interested in Hikuleo, Tama Tonga and bringing back Naomi and they didn’t end up landing them. We’ve also spoken to multiple free agents who said WWE outright stopped responding to them along the way."

White made his in-ring debut for AEW on the April 19th edition of Dynamite, defeating Kommander, having arrived unannounced on the April 5th edition ahead of fellow Bullet Club Gold member Juice Robinson's bout with Ricky Starks.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett