In recent pro-wrestling news, World Wrestling Entertainment has shown interest in signing a young performer currently employed by All Elite Wrestling. Reports suggest that HOOK might have the incentive to take theWWEup on the offer, despite holding a championship in AEW.All Elite Wrestlingwas created in 2019 as a mainstream competitor to the WWE, which had enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the professional wrestling industry since it absorbed World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the early 2000s, consolidating the most extensive assets and video libraries around and collecting all the biggest names in the business outside of a few Japanese and Latin American performers. Since then, AEW has explosively carved a fair slice of the US and international market for itself, in part by taking some big names away from the WWEW, including retired fan favorites like Paul Wight and activesuperstars like Chris Jericho, who was recently banned from Tiktok.RELATED:AEW Fight Forever Reveals Preorder Bonuses And First Season Pass DetailsIt seems that the WWE has decided to take a page out of the old playbook, as reports suggest the company is looking to snag current AEW talent HOOK, who debuted with AEW at the tail end of 2020 to an overtly positive response. Despite the AEW roster featuring internationally acclaimed stars like CM Punk, who recently got into a controversial real-lifealtercation also featuring Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, HOOK still managed to leave a lasting impression on the AEW faithful and currently holds the FTW Championship that his father first created in ECW, with the title still holding the distinction of not being officially sanctioned. He has also found himself in the tag team scene, pairing with Jungle Boy for tag action in AEW.
If HOOK does sign with the WWE, it will likely cause a stir akin to when AEW founding pillarCody Rhodes inked a deal to returnto the company he made his name in. HOOK is seen by many as an AEW product, with many of those who trained and mentored him being affiliated with the company, including his legendary father, Taz, currently serving there as a color commentator and leader of the Team Taz faction. Despite this, some sources suggest Taz might be interested in having HOOK work for the WWE as he did in the early 2000s. Taz might also want a different career trajectory for his son, who is reportedly expected to stay in the tag team scene for the foreseeable future at AEW.
With insiders revealing that both WWE COO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque and Senior VP of Talent Development Creative Shawn Micheals are big fans of HOOK, the WWE might make a play for the young star when his AEW contract comes under review. While aWWEcontract will certainly be lucrative and put HOOK’s name further out there, the company is also well known for being a bit prone to controversy. Most recently,WWE was sued by one of its former writers. Whether HOOK jumps ship or stays in the less risky AEW camp remains to be seen.
