Major reason behind shocking AEW departures revealed - Reports

AEW recently saw the departures of many notable stars like Shawn Spears, Ethan Page, Matt Hardy, and more. A recent report may have revealed the reason behind the shocking occurrence.

Tony Khan recently announced that AEW had partnered with the city of Arlington in Texas and that the company will hold Collision from July 20 to August 17 from the Esports Stadium. The episodes will be used for the buildup to the upcoming All In PPV event in Wembley Stadium. However, many have seen the announcement to hold Collision from the same venue as cost-cutting.

In a recent report by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the veteran noted that the company was currently on a cost-cutting spree and was experimenting with holding residential tapings instead of touring in other states.

“The one thing we’ve noticed is that there has been cost-cutting. Granted, the talent roster is larger than they need, and the cuts from a roster standpoint did make sense. But the Arlington tapings for Collision, which is an experiment regarding doing residential instead of constantly touring tapings, is cost-cutting,'' Meltzer said.

The veteran added:

''It also simplifies things. And AEW wasn’t doing huge Saturday night gates, so this is an experiment that is best viewed when it’s over and whether it is best to try and do it more often or never again. Some have talked of noticing cutbacks in production as well!'' [H/T: RingsideNews]

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Tony Khan claims The Briscoes were not allowed to wrestle in AEW

Mark and Jay Briscoe (The Briscoes) were one of the best tag teams in professional wrestling. However, after the unfortunate demise of Jay Briscoe, the team was disbanded.

Speaking with SHAK Wrestling, Tony Khan revealed he did not get permission to bring The Briscoes to AEW at the All Out 2022 PPV. Khan praised The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) for filling in the spot and teaming up with Jay Lethal to face FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and Wardlow at the event.

"I was not able to use The Briscoes; I was not permitted to use The Briscoes in that situation. I think it would have been great, but the Motor City Machine Guns came in and really helped us at that time at being a part of the show, when there was a spot that was intended for another great tag team, in my opinion the greatest tag team ever, 'The Briscoes!' and you needed somebody really strong, somebody very good to come,'' Tony Khan said. [15:46 - 16:16]

The team of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin (Motorcity Machine Guns) is reportedly set to debut in All Elite Wrestling soon. It will be interesting to see if the tag team signs with the promotion in the coming months.