Tony Khan has allegedly stopped using 32-year-old in AEW as he's likely to join WWE - Reports

AEW head honcho Tony Khan is supposedly disinterested in using a 32-year-old New Japan Pro-Wrestling atlete due to rumors suggesting that the latter may be WWE-bound. The star in question, David Finlay, competed for the Jacksonville-based promotion this past January.

Recent observations have pointed out that All Elite Wrestling Creative Head Tony Khan tends to not prominently and regularly feature talent who are expected to leave his company to join their competition. This held true for stars like Miro, Blake Monroe and Ricky Saints, to cite a few recent examples, who did not appear on AEW television for extensive periods of time, presumably because they were rumored to be leaving. Such may also be the case with Chris Jericho and Private Party, according to rumors making the rounds as of late.

According to Dave Meltzer's conjecture on a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, the same rationale of not lending screen-time to talent who might be headed to WWE might apply to NJPW star David Finlay. The veteran journalist argued that the Bullet Club War Dogs leader has not been presented more frequently on AEW programming - unlike his teammates, like Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney and Robbie X - because of the possibility of The Rebel signing with the Stamford-based promotion.

“Maybe there’s the feeling that David is going to end up in WWE and Tony doesn’t want to use him,” Meltzer said.

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Meltzer reiterated that Tony Khan has little interest in featuring performers who are projected to be heading to WWE, especially if the talent in question is not even directly employed by him.

“Tony Khan doesn’t want to use people who are going to go to WWE — even though it’s inevitable that a lot of the guys he’s using will end up in WWE just because of how wrestling works. But if you’re pretty sure they’re gonna go, then why use them?” [H/T - Ringside News]

Finlay wrestled under the All Elite Wrestling banner earlier this year in January at AEW X NJPW x CMLL Wrestle Dynasty 2025, where he defeated Brody King in singles competition. He had also battled current Men's World Champion Hangman Page one-on-one in an unsuccessful bid back in June, 2022.

Announcements for this week's AEW Dynamite

The November 5 edition of Wednesday Night Dynamite will air from the Bayou Music Center in Houston, Texas. Only two matches have been announced for the show so far - the first a trios bout pitting The Opps against Hangman Page, Eddie Kingston and Hook. The second is a quarterfinal matchup from the ongoing AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship Tournament, which will see Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron take on Athena and Mercedes Mone.

Announcements for this week's Wednesday Night Dynamite [Image Credits: Official website of All Elite Wrestling (allelitewrestling.com)]

It remains to be seen what Tony Khan and his creative team has planned for viewers this Wednesday.

Edited by Anurag Mukherjee