Real Reason Kyle O'Reilly Chose AEW Over WWE
The former Undisputed Era man had the opportunity to stick with WWE and NXT, but...
Kyle O'Reilly's feeling that WWE weren't going to have a spot for him on the main roster led to his decision to leave the market leaders and sign for AEW last December.
Speaking with Renee Paquette on The Sessions, O'Reilly spoke of the difference between the AEW and NXT locker rooms, stating that with his previous place of work, frequent rounds of releases made it impossible to create a good environment (h/t WrestlingNews.co):-
“The AEW locker room is full of the guys that I came up with in this business that I’ve been friends with for years. There was a lot of that in NXT too, but it seemed like every couple weeks I would look around at the locker room and it was getting decimated. It wasn’t a very good environment, I guess, at that time. I wanted to follow my heart where I’m going to be happy and be utilized.”
O'Reilly opted to leave WWE when his contract expired on 10 December, rather than sticking with the company he'd called home since signing in 2017. The entirety of his run played out in NXT, where he was a fixture, capturing the Tag Team Championships thrice, serving as a member of the Undisputed Era, and working high-profile feuds with the likes of Adam Cole.
But after four-plus years in developmental, Kyle figured that if WWE hadn't found something for him on the main roster in that time period, it's unlikely that they were ever going to:-
“I felt to stay with WWE, it was going to be to stay with NXT, and at this point after four and a half years, if you don’t really have a spot with Kyle O’Reilly on the main roster, I got the vibe that there wasn’t going to be a spot for me up there."
Debuting for AEW on Dynamite's 22 December episode, O'Reilly is currently on paternity leave following with birth of his daughter, Janie Elizabeth Greenwood, on 17 January. His return timetable is unclear at the moment.