Now known as Mercedes Mone in AEW, the 34-year-old has been a banner act for Tony Khan’s company, known as a belt collector for all the titles she has amassed from other companies.

She has not been seen in AEW since Janaury 7 and although she only joined the company in 2024, it’s widely believed she only signed a three-year contract.

Would she return to WWE? She walked out of WWE alongside Naomi due to creative differences, but Naomi has since returned to the company and won the world title.

They left under the Vince McMahon regime, but now Triple H is the man in charge.

Charlotte Flair was recently asked who her Mount Rushmore of women’s wrestlers would be and she did not hesitate to pick the Four Horsewomen – herself, Bayley, Lynch and Banks.

When asked on the Cheap Heat podcast about Flair’s comments, Lynch whole heartedly agree.

“Honestly, I can’t disagree. That’s a great answer. We’re a great foursome. Never really aligned altogether, but we did great work. We’re still doing great work. We’re all doing great work.”

Host Pete Rosenberg asked: “Is there some more stuff that needs to be done between the women who were a part of that together?”

Lynch replied: “Well, we’re not all here, and, you know, the door is always open, I think, for Sasha. So I think that that is one of those things that you can always go back to at any time, and it’ll always be fantastic.”

Banks already has a rock solid Hall of Fame career if she retired tomorrow. One has to think she has new opponents to make money with in WWE when she’s ready to return, but she is also known to know her own value.

She is paid well by Khan and has a prominent spot with great influence over her stories in AEW. Would she ever get that in WWE?

Working for Triple H, the man who helped her breakthrough in NXT, is certainly a more appealing prospect than her time under McMahon.

But right now, AEW is trending upwards. Their ratings and live audience numbers are both moving in the right direction thanks to a solid spell of booking.

After the $9.3 billion deal, Endeavour would form TKO as a property to house both UFC and WWE.

A company called Base 10, backed by AEW owner Tony Khan, placed a bid. This information came to light from newly unredacted court filings tied to an ongoing shareholder lawsuit over WWE’s sale that were obtained by PostWrestling.com.

The filings confirm that multiple groups pursued WWE, including Endeavor, Liberty Media, KKR, and Base 10. While other bidders were previously reported, this is the first time Khan’s involvement has been made public.

The basis of the lawsuit comes from the other companies believing it was an unfair courting process as Vince McMahon always favoured Endeavor because its CEO, Ari Emanuel, supported McMahon staying with the company.

Ultimately, that didn’t work out for McMahon and he had to retire off the back of his sex trafficking allegations, but it is being argued it helped him pick Endeavour for the sale originally.

Technically, AEW and Base 10 are separate entities under the Khan family’s portfolio. AEW boss Khan declined to comment on the matter.

While it’s remarkable that Khan made a play for WWE, it is worth noting that his company’s offer was the lowest by a wide margin.

They offered $76.83 per share. KKR submitted a bid ranging from $90 to $97.50, while Liberty offered between $95 and $100 which were both structured as cash deals for WWE shareholders.

Endeavor’s winning bid was an all-stock transaction valued at $95.66 per share.

Speaking on the Talk’n Shop podcast alongside The Good Brothers, Styles put the rumours to rest and insists he will not jump ship to AEW.

In fact, he confirmed he will be working with WWE behind the scenes.

Styles said: “Everybody wants to say, ‘Oh, WWE put him in the Hall of Fame so he couldn’t go to AEW.’ Guys, I’m retired from wrestling in the ring. That’s all this is. I make my own choices. I make my own decisions. I was ready. I’m still going to be working with WWE. That’s not going to change.

“I have these dreams and aspirations of helping out the younger talent and helping them get ready. If somebody’s not ready once they get there, it’s my job to hopefully help them get to that point where they can do well and they’re confident when they step into a WWE ring – that they have the ability and the talent. They’re one of the boys or one of the girls. They belong.

“Being able to help with that is a blessing, dude. I’m so excited about it.”

Justin Barrasso of SI.com claims that Styles is well aware of the kind of money that AEW owner Tony Khan was willing to offer him.

“For as much as WWE claims to be blissfully unaware of what is happening in AEW, that isn’t the case. With Styles getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, it severely limits any potential AEW owner Tony Khan had of bringing Styles in for a surprise appearance at the Revolution pay-per-view in March.

“For AEW, their post-WrestleMania show is Double or Nothing in May–and even that feels too soon for Styles to appear.

The 42-year-old, who remains one of the top performers in the world today, was written off TV on Dynamite this week after a brutal attack from Swerve Strickland following their match.

Omega did not wrestle in 2024, he only wrestled 15 times last year and has four matches to his name in 2026.

His run as the belt collector early into AEW’s run was one of their most memorable periods, but injuries and, particuarly, diverticulitis have detrailed the last few years of his career.

At least this time, Omega’s absence will be down to another commitment, not injury.

Fightful Select reports that Omega is currently not scheduled to wrestle at AEW Revolution next month in March, though an appearance or a potential change of plans weren’t ruled out.

Omega informed AEW that he would have a scheduling conflict with Revolution a few months ago and these plans have been in motion for a while.

Thsi caused Tony Khan and AEW to move up the timetable for Omega’s match with Swerve, putting it last night on “Dynamite” instead of the PPV.

Dave Meltzer reported some weeks ago that Omega was scheduled to be in Japan the week of AEW Revolution, taking part in Tokyo’s Capcom Cup 12 video game event.

Also in Japan, Omega is scheduled for meet and greets March 11 through March 13.

He could technically make it for Revolution on March 15, but that doesn’t appear to be the plan right now.

The free agency market is constantly changing in wrestling, and Khan always keeps his eye on the who is available.

“I am constantly evaluating the market and scouting for fantastic wrestlers if they are available to join AEW,” Khan said.

“And AEW is where the best wrestle, and it will be for a very long time.”

AEW has been aggressive about pursuing top talent ever since they formed in 2019.

Khan has managed several coups during that time including CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole.

Can he persuade AJ Styles to come on over? The Phenomenal One has reportedly rejected the idea for now, but who knows how the 48-year-old will feel down the road.

Ciampa is the latest big name to jump from WWE to AEW and Khan was thrilled to get him.

“He’s a fantastic wrestler,” Khan said. “And to have somebody of his quality come in, instantly he’s additive in AEW.

“We’ve got somebody that’s joined us that can have fantastic matches, whether it’s people he’s lined up against in past wrestling matches, whether it’s an old rival or somebody fresh and new that he’s never been matched up against, there’s so many exciting possibilities for Tommaso Ciampa in AEW.”

Styles lost to Gunther at the Royal Rumble and as the stipulation called for, he had to walk retire from WWE.

But does that mean retiring from wrestling?

His WWE contract was up this month anyway so it seemed like a natural stopping point for all involved, especially given Gunther’s ‘career killer’ gimmick that had already retired Goldberg and John Cena.

Styles has been desperate to retire for a while. He has made no secret of his desire to stop wrestling, but we’ve heard similar things from names like Bryan Danielson before and they ended up working elsewhere.

Appearing on The Battleground podcast, AEW owner Tony Khan addressed Styles’ retirement.

“Oh, I’m a huge fan of AJ Styles. I think he’s incredible. He’s had great matches all over the world.

“We were just talking about ROH – he did some incredible things in ROH that are a part of our library, and also with our partners at New Japan Pro Wrestling. He was involved in some of the all-time greatest matches.

“His match with Minoru Suzuki is one of my all-time favorites, and he’s had great matches with multiple companies all over the world.

“He’s never been in AEW before, but he certainly has history with a lot of the promotions we work with. And of course, in ROH, he has a great history.

“For me, he’s one of my all-time favorites. Just personally, in my opinion, I think he’s one of the greatest wrestlers ever. I have only the highest praise for AJ Styles. Thanks for asking.”

Fightful has also reported that if AEW are told there’s a chance to sign AJ Styles, that’s exactly what they’ll try and do.

According to Fightful, the former AEW star has put pen to paper on his WWE deal after his AEW contract expired.

On January 20, WWE filed to trademark ‘Royce Keys.’

According to BodySlam.net, Royce Keys is expected to be the name given to Powerhouse Hobbs in WWE.

Hobbs had a five year run in AEW and he is a former World Trios and TNT Champion.

His last match was at the Maximum Carnage edition of Collision, where The Opps (Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata & Powerhouse Hobbs) dropped the World Trios Titles to Hangman Adam Page and JetSpeed (Kevin Knight & ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey).

It’s been said that WWE have wanted the 35-year-old – his brithday was yesterday – for quite some time.

Hobbs joins the likes of Ricky Saints, Blake Monroe, Ethan Page and Jade Cargill in making the move from AEW to WWE.

The latter two kept their names while the former pair did not.

WWE is yet to announce the signing of Hobbs, but the Royal Rumble next weekend may present the perfect opportunity to debut the California-native.

He had been with the company since its inception in 2019, overseeing operations, live events, and most notably, the development of the AEW Fight Forever game.

Sobic was a key player in bringing to life AEW’s maiden game that went on to receive mixed reviews, but moderately successful sales in the early going.

It’s unclear if his departure is related to the video game.

He had been a close worker alongside AEW owner Tony Khan, previously enjoying a strategic role with the Jacksonville Jaguars prior to AEW.

AEW informed us they do not comment on personnel decisions.

Back in 2023, Sobics explained his influence on the AEW Fight Forever game.

“Not all development meetings are fun, but one of the best and most fun times was the brainstorming meeting for mini-games. We came up with 100 ideas.

“I pushed so hard for Shida’s slugfest. It made me happy that Adam Cole liked it too. That one was a little controversial, but it’s my favorite. I’m not capable of being unbiased on that.

“Why mini-games? This game is optimized for couch play. It’s awesome online and has unlimited online features, but I will tell you that the people that worked on this game are gaming nerds that have been playing games their whole lives and miss the couch play experience. Mini-games sort of scratch that itch,” said Sobic on AEW Unrestricted.

Of course, this was a disastrous idea in WCW and was certainly one of the major contributing factors to its eventual demise.

Speaking on the Battleground podcast, Khan cleared up the creative control rumour.

“There’s no creative control. Only I have it. No wrestler has that.

“And there’s a lot of freedom to work with the staff and the coaches and the wrestlers together and come up with ideas.

“And I am one of the most collaborative people on the planet. And that’s how I’ve been able to succeed in multiple sports and build the greatest sports analytics engineering firm in the world, True Media, where we service 29 out of the 30 major league baseball teams.”

“I love working with partners all over the world, media partners, and in wrestling. I think we are really collaborative and when AEW at its best, that’s what it is, the wrestlers coming in with ideas, I come in with ideas, we work together and that’s what I love.”

To be fair, Khan has said as much for the longest time. He welcomes ideas from the talent that he is working with and sure, the senior superstars there probably have more sway than most over their direction.

But, ultimately it is Khan who says yes or no. The buck stops with him.

Wrestlers like Adam Copeland, Mercedes Mone and Jon Moxley have been accused of having creative power from time to time, but it’s always turned out to be unfounded.

Khan’s passion for the wrestling business has always been clear as day and he surely knows better given the historian that he is.

Listening to some of your most accomplished talents and working alongside other people is not giving them carte blanche – an important distinction.

It’s not the first time WWE have picked up a star from their rival with Jade Cargill currently serving as their SmackDown women’s champion.

Ricky Saints, Ethan Page and Blake Monroe are three others to make their way over while Cody Rhodes is of course the biggest name of them all (but was at WWE first).

According to the Wrestling Observer, Powerhouse Hobbs is also on WWE’s radar.

“There’s more to the Hobbs situation than I wrote. I don’t know when his AEW contract expires, but I do know that people in WWE really want him. He’ll definitely get offers. There are people in WWE who are very behind him.”

Hobbs fits the WWE mould with his muscular physique and physcial charisma.

He’s had a bit of a stop-start AEW career and has never reached the very top, but he is currently in Samoa Joe’s Opps stable and is featured every week.

In fact, his Opps team-mate, Hook, is rumoured to interest WWE as well. He is, of course, the son of Taz.

Before AEW, Hobbs was on the independent circuit for about nine years and actually had a WWE dark match in 2016, losing to Baron Corbin.

AEW have taken far more stars from WWE than the other way around with names like Adam Cole, Edge, Bryan Danielson, Mercedes Mone and Jon Moxley just the tip of the iceberg.