Earlier this week, news broke that The Elite, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and “Hangman” Adam Page had all signed multi-year contract extensions with All Elite Wrestling. This morning, in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was noted that the new deal is so lucrative, The Young Bucks have now signed on for the most lucrative guaranteed money contract of any tag team in pro wrestling history. This is great news for fans of AEW, but not great for those that were hanging onto hope that The Elite may jump ship, as Cody Rhodes did, to WWE. According to Meltzer, that nearly became a reality, but as time wore on with AEW negotiations, the faction voted to stay Elite and re-sign as a group.
Earlier today at the WWE SummerSlam media junket, I had a chance to ask The Judgment Day’s Finn Balor what he thought of The Elite’s decision to re-sign with AEW and not make the leap as Rhodes did.
“I would love to get an opportunity to work with those guys again,” he said. “But, once they’re happy in their situation, that’s all that really matters to me. The Bucks and Kenny, great guys, had a great working relationship with them in New Japan. Hopefully, in the future, we’ll get to work together again. Whether it’s here, there, or somewhere else, who knows? But I’m happy here. They’re happy there.”
Surprised by his use of the word “there” in regard to where he would be willing to work with the Bucks, I asked Balor to clarify whether he is open to walking through the Forbidden Door to work a program with The Elite in AEW.
“Here or there or anywhere. I’m not opposed to it.”
My full conversation with Balor will air as part of this Thursday’s Haus of Wrestling, also featuring independent wrestler Matty Starr. It will first be released in video form at Noon EST on Premier Streaming Network before being released in audio form on the Haus of Wrestling podcast feed.
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling and link back