Earlier this month, word began to make the rounds that All Elite Wrestling would not renew its contract with Brian Pillman Jr. The second-generation star was with the company since nearly the beginning, having competed at their inaugural Double or Nothing PPV in 2019, but had been used very infrequently since his tag team, The Varsity Blondes, was unceremoniously broken up towards the end of last year.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted last week that Pillman Jr. had been spotted down at the WWE Performance Center but would likely not be signed until after the Endeavor merger is complete. This echoes what Fuego Del Sol recently told me in an exclusive interview for Inside The Ropes regarding WWE’s rumored “hiring freeze.”
“I knew a guy, a buddy of mine, who was interviewing for a writing position and got very far in the interview process, and they directly told him, ‘Hey, until this Endeavor deal’s done, we’re not hiring anybody.’ So that’s what I got out of it, at least from the corporate side of it,” he recalled. “I have no clue about signings, but you haven’t seen the normal three or four months, ‘Hey, this recruit class is coming in.’ You have the NIL deals, which is huge for them right now, but I don’t know.”
Bodyslam.net reports that despite suspicions that the Endeavor merger could hold up WWE from signing any new talent, that may not be true for Pillman Jr. Sources indicate that the son of “The Loose Cannon” has a WWE deal in place or is looking to finalize it now before officially signing it. Once the pen has been put to paper, the former AEW star will relocate to Orlando, likely at the end of August, to begin training at the WWE Performance Center.
Pillman Jr. got the rumor mill working overdrive this past weekend in regard to his pro wrestling future during a virtual signing for Captain’s Corner. During the stream, he alluded to a “huge opportunity” he has coming up that he’s not allowed to talk about. Could that opportunity take place in the confines of a WWE ring? Stay tuned.