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AEW has made a number of exciting signings recently with the likes of Mark Henry, Andrade and Christian all signing with the company within the last few months.
However, whilst people are keeping a keen eye on the stars coming into AEW, not a lot of people are keeping an eye on the possibility that those that initially signed with the company during its inception might be coming to an end of their contracts and on their way out.
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With several AEW stars signing two or three-year deals when the company first began airing its two-hour show AEW Dynamite in October 2019, there's definitely a chance some of them might be nearing the end of their contracts around about now.
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Let's take a look at five AEW stars who are nearing the end of their contracts (according to Fightful's excellent resource on contract expiration dates).
#5 Former AEW World Champion and WWE Superstar Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho has been one of the lynch pins of AEW's early operations as a wrestling promotion. He became the company's first ever world champion, has formed a solid stable in The Inner Circle, and has built up a solid rivalry with The Pinnacle.
Jericho joining AEW from the outset was quite the shock at the time, as he'd previously been a WWE lifer, but now it seems like his time in Tony Khan's company might be coming to an end.
It was reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Chris Jericho signed a three-year exclusive deal with AEW that allowed him to appear for New Japan Pro Wrestling and host his Jericho Cruises, but not appear for WWE.
With Jericho's contract keeping him at AEW until presumably the end of 2021 will we see him renew his deal with AEW, or is there a chance that the Ayatollah of Rock and Roll will go back to WWE for one last run with the company he spent most of his time?
#4 AEW star Lance Archer
Lance Archer had been appearing for New Japan Pro Wrestling when he shocked everybody by showing up at AEW and then further announced that he'd signed a deal with the new wrestling promotion.
AEW sent out a press release that stated that Archer had signed a multi-year deal with them. They didn't specify exactly how many years exactly that was, and 'multi-year' means more than one, which means the earliest that Lance Archer's contract could expire is February 2022.
If that's the case then AEW could be on the verge of losing one of their more impressive big men. But with the acquisition of The Big Show as well as Braun Strowman floating around as a free agent, there's every chance they may let Archer go.
However, the 'multi-year deal' could include many more years, in which case the Murderhawk is in AEW for the long haul!
#3 AEW commentator Jim Ross
He may not be an active competitor for AEW, but Jim Ross is every bit as crucial as any wrestler in helping the company pull together its live shows with his wealth of experience in commentary.
But with Jim Ross only signing a three-year deal with the company, as reported by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, it means that the star's iconic voice only has a limited time left in AEW with the contract possibly running out during spring 2022.
Whilst there are a few up-and-coming wrestling commentators out there like Renee Paquette (who may not even be that interested in wrestling commentary anymore) as well as some experienced pros like Mauro Ranallo, losing Jim Ross would undoubtedly be a blow to AEW's broadcasting.
Still, he could potentially sign a new deal with AEW and see out the rest of his career with the company that took him on after WWE.
#2 AEW star Joey Janela
Joey Janela is certainly one of the more unorthodox and unusual wrestlers to find himself a home in AEW, but there's certainly no denying that the star has earned a great reputation for himself there.
One of the big reasons why Janela signed with AEW, and not another promotion like WWE for example, is that AEW allowed Janela to keep producing his own wrestling shows like Joey Janela's Spring Break and Game Changer Wrestling.
Janela would confirm to Fightful in an interview the length of the deal he signed with AEW. He told them that he had signed a three-year deal and that it started on May 1st, 2019.
This means that his contract has just over a year left before Janela may need to re-enter negotiations, although if AEW continues to allow him to pursue his wrestling interests outside of the company it's likely that he'll have no issues extending that contract.
#1 AEW's FTR formerly known in WWE as The Revival
When Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder left WWE, pretty much everyone in the wrestling world wanted them to go to AEW so that we could finally get the much-teased feud with The Young Bucks.
Well, that's happened now and the newly named tag-team FTR made up of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler is currently serving out the remainder of a 'multi-year deal' with AEW as part of The Pinnacle stable, embroiled in a feud with Jericho's Inner Circle.
Similar to Lance Archer's situation, we don't know exactly how many years are included in this multi-year deal, which means that FTR could feasibly have their AEW contract expire around July 2022.
This means that the pair of old-school tag-team wrestlers have potentially just over a year left to get through the remainder of the dream tag-team bouts people were imagining for them whilst they remained in WWE. Of course, all of this is moot if there are more than two years left in their 'multi-year deals.'
