Another former WWE Superstar is All Elite.
AEW has been criticized for signing too many former WWE performers, but that trend does not appear to be slowing down.
Ariya Daivari is the latest wrestler to sign a full-time deal with AEW, according to Fightful.
Daivari has been featured on AEW programming over the past several weeks. The former 205 Live star has been throwing his not-so-hard earned money around in AEW. He leads the Trustbusters faction, a group that has been making noise on AEW Dark.
Ariya Daivari in AEW
Since joining AEW, Ariya Daivari has received a fair degree of creative direction. He’s positioned as a “trust fund kid” who has a lot of not-so-hard-earned money to throw around.
The Trustbusters faction includes Daivari, Slim J, fellow WWE castoff Parker Bordeoux and Sonny Kiss is the latest addition.
Aside from his work on-screen, Daivari has also worked as a producer behind-the-scenes for AEW. He recently helped put together the Thunderstorm vs Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter match from AEW Dynamite. The bout got rave reviews, which only helped Daivari’s standings behind the scenes.
In addition to some critics feeling that Tony Khan is signing too many former WWE wrestlers, certain AEW performers have publicly expressed frustration with the company. Last week, company president Tony Khan addressed the chatter that underutilized performers are growing frustrated. You can read his reaction at the link below:
There is a case to be made that AEW should focus on the talent already under contract. However, someone like Ariya Daivari is extremely talented. At 33 years old, he’s in his athletic prime and has a lot to offer the business on and off screen. As noted earlier, he’s starting off on the right foot. Daivari’s character is being developed and a faction is being built around him, so it does appear that AEW has the creative ‘bandwidth’ for him.
We’ll wait and see how Ariya Daivari does in the months ahead.