Cesaro Leaves WWE Amid AEW Signing Spree

Cesaro has quietly left WWE per PWInsider (h/t Wrestling Inc) as the longtime WWE Superstar could not come to terms on a new deal with the promotion.

Cesaro was reportedly scheduled to be in Hershey, Penn. for Friday’s broadcast of SmackDown, however these plans have since been nixed as he is free to immediately sign with any promotion.

WWE recently re-signed Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to big-money deals, however it were unable to do the same with Cesaro. Cesaro was coy on his status with WWE during a recent interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated.

“I’m not going to confirm or deny anything. To me, there needs to be a certain amount of mystery in wrestling,” said Cesaro.

“A lot of that magic gets lost, so I’ll let people talk. What is important to me is my work in the ring.”

Signed in 2011, Cesaro won the inaugural Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30 in what would ultimately prove to be the beginning of the biggest push of his career. The former United States and tag team champion was even paired with legendary manager Paul Heyman. Unfortunately, Cesaro’s singles push quickly flamed out as he found solace in the vaunted “good hand” role.

Cesaro won numerous championships with WWE, including an entertaining run alongside Sheamus as part of “The Bar” that saw the pair capture the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. Cesaro’s last match was a loss to Happy Corbin on the February 11 broadcast of SmackDown. Last month, he did not appear in the Royal Rumble for the first time since 2019.

AEW will naturally be at the center of speculation as to Cesaro’s next destination. With the promotion remaining aggressive in signing former WWE talent, Cesaro’s track record on the independent circuit—and popularity with Internet Wrestling Community—will make him a prime candidate to jump ship to the Jacksonville-based promotion. AEW recently signed Keith Lee, and Buddy Matthews (formerly Buddy Murphy) made a surprise debut last night on AEW Dynamite. AEW is also reportedly expected to land Sw3rve The Realest (Swerve Scott) and current ROH world champion Jonathan Gresham. AEW also signed former NXT star AQA (Zayda Ramier) following her debut match against Jade Cargill. During a casual conversation with YouTuber Jared Myers, legendary wrestler Jeff Hardy stated he was going to AEW.

Though some would argue AEW has too much talent, given its limited television time, this has not deterred the fourth-year promotion from pursuing free agents at a time where many of its contracts are expiring for the first time. Cody Rhodes famously left AEW last week in a story that remains one of the biggest of the new year, while Lio Rush’s contract expired this month. Joey Janela, who didn’t sound like he planned on returning to AEW, also has an expiring contract.

“I don’t know, I don’t even talk to them, I get a check, but I don’t know what’s going on,” said Janela on the “Rasslin’” podcast (h/t Wrestling Inc).

“I saw some rumors that said 4/30, my contract is up, April 30th. So, I don’t know what the [expletive] is going on. I think it will. If it doesn’t I look like a [expletive] idiot right now.”

With AEW reshuffling the deck, in the midst of an increasingly heated wrestling war, Cesaro’s arrival could be all but imminent as long as AEW hasn’t decided that its cup runneth over.