Details on two former champions rejecting WWE to join AEW

AEW have managed to bring in some of the most talented wrestlers in the world in recent years, with some wrestlers even choosing to become All Elite rather than join WWE, which is exactly what happened to two former champions.

Back in May 2023, Aussie Open's Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis were officially signed to All Elite Wrestling. They had made sporadic appearances in AEW before, as well as competing regularly for Ring of Honor, but their main promotion was New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Speaking to Chris Jericho on the "Talk is Jericho" podcast, Aussie Open admitted that they had been approached by WWE in the past, most notably to be a part of the NXT and NXT UK brands.

"We hit a point and hit a threshold where we put the time in... we had offers from WWE to do NXT and NXT UK, that we refused, because we wanted to commit to doing New Japan, and it was a difficult struggle," said Mark Davis. [H/T Fightful]

Kyle Fletcher went on to reveal that they were originally approached in 2019, but wanted to compete in NJPW's World Tag League. Despite being more than happy to revisit discussions in the future, things got in the way and WWE's interest eventually faded away.

"The first time we spoke to them was 2019. It was when we were just gearing up for World Tag League. It was for a NXT UK deal. We were like, 'We want to do this New Japan thing, maybe we can revisit it after that.' That's how it was left. The injury happens, COVID happens. The next time we spoke to them was this year. When we talked to New Japan, they were saying 'wait' and we put feelers out everywhere and we had a little bit of a conversation. It didn't get too deep, but there was interest there. The best situation was for us here. The talks didn't get super deep," said Kyle Fletcher. [H/T Fightful]

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Aussie Open recently opened the show at AEW All In

It must be intimidating being the first people to wrestle on the show with the highest paid attendance in wrestling history. However, Aussie Open took that pressure in their stride.

Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis kicked off the festivities at AEW All In by defending their ROH Tag Team Championships against AEW World Champion MJF and Max's opponent later on in the night, Adam Cole.

After a back-and-forth contest, Aussie Open were defeated by the team now known as "Better Than You Bay Bay." It's unclear whether or not the two men will get a rematch for the titles, but if they win the tag team battle royale that takes place this week on AEW Rampage, they will get their chance at revenge at All Out.

Do you think Aussie Open will face MJF and Adam Cole at All Out? Let us know in the comments section down below!