Two Former WWE Stars In Talks With AEW

These two former WWE names are in ongoing talks to sign with AEW.

by Andrew Pollard
Grizzled Young Veterans Zack Gibson James Drake
WWE

Having already wrestled once for AEW, could the Grizzled Young Veterans soon be officially #AllElite? Possibly.

As per Fightful Select, Zack Gibson and James Drake are in ongoing contract talks with AEW. While no agreement has been reached between the two parties, AEW maintains interest in signing GYV.

Since choosing to allow their WWE contracts to expire in September, the Grizzled Young Veterans have been a fairly regular part of TNA programming and have competed for the likes of Progress, RevPro, House of Glory, and Revolver. Despite those TNA appearances, the tandem were working without contracts, and their last TNA outing came in March for an episode of Impact that aired the following month.

Advertisement

Away from their in-ring careers, Gibson and Drake launched their own Burning Heart promotion earlier this year, with Burning Heart to run its first show later this month at the Liverpool Olympia.

Where AEW is concerned, Grizzled Young Veterans competed on the 27 April episode of Collision, where they came up short against the Acclaimed.

Advertisement
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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, 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 the 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, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.