7 AEW Stars Released

2026 has already seen a number of changes to the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) roster in the form of both incomings and outgoings.

While new signings have made their debuts, others have either been released or exited the promotion at the end of their contracts.

Here are seven AEW releases and departures that have already occurred this year.

7. Danhausen

The most high profile AEW exit as of late has been Danhausen, who made his WWE debut at Elimination Chamber 2026.

After becoming one of the most prolific merch movers on the indies, Danhausen had signed with AEW in 2022, but made his last AEW TV appearance in 2023 and his last ROH appearance in 2024.

After over a year of being on the bench, he finally left AEW and joined WWE in a widely talked about debut this past weekend.

He has already managed to make waves with John Cena, Triple H, CM Punk and more all joining in with the fun on social media.

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6. Powerhouse Hobbs/Royce Keys

Another of the high profile AEW exits of this year came from Powerhouse Hobbs, who is now known as Royce Keys in WWE.

After a run in AEW that featured reigns with the World Trios and TNT Championships, Hobbs debuted with his new name in the WWE Royal Rumble at the end of January.

However, he hasn’t made any appearances on Raw or SmackDown since then.

Instead, he has been working dark matches off TV while WWE airs highlights of his podcast interview with Stephanie McMahon

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5. Trey Miguel

Trey Miguel is someone who joined AEW and was released all in the space of just a couple of days earlier this year.

Initially, all four members of The Rascalz – Miguel, Zachary Wentz, Dezmond Xavier and Myron Reed – signed with AEW.

However, reportedly due to regrettable social media posts he’d made in the past, word came from someone “above Tony Khan” that Miguel had to be fired.

He has since returned to TNA and is now the promotion’s International Champion.

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4. Chris Jericho

The AEW departure of Chris Jericho has not yet officially taken place, but is still widely expected to.

With the initial belief that his AEW contract was up at the end of 2025, reports suggest the company made the decision to add absence time onto Jericho’s deal to keep him under contract for longer – the same thing that happened to names Penta, Rey Fenix and others.

Jericho has been off AEW TV since April 2025, and has been touring with Fozzy in the meantime.

It is still the expectation that when his AEW contract ends, he’ll return to WWE.

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3. Alex Abrahantes

A name who had been with AEW since the early days of the promotion in 2019, Alex Abrahantes exited in January 2026.

Abrahantes will mostly be remembered in AEW for his role as the manager of Penta, but also had stints as the manager for other luchadores like Komander.

He was a big part of the Spanish commentary team as well.

After the news of his departure came out, Abrahantes shared a video message on social media thanking everyone in AEW for his time there.

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2. Mercedes Martinez

Another January 2026 AEW departure was that of Mercedes Martinez.

After leaving WWE in August 2021 and then having a run in TNA, Martinez joined AEW at the end of the year.

While she did make some appearances on AEW, TV she was mostly utlizied in ROH, where she had a reign with the ROH Women’s Championship in 2022.

Martinez actually had two AEW matches in 2019 before she signed with WWE as well.

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1. Matt Taven

Matt Taven’s AEW departure was confirmed in January 2026.

He had joined the company in 2022 along with his tag team partner in The Kingdom, Mike Bennett, and Bennett’s wife Maria Kanellis.

Kanellis was separated from the group and moved to ROH while Taven and Bennett had a run in AEW, including a brief alliance with Adam Cole, Roderick Strong and Wardlow as The Undisputed Kingdom.

While Kanellis left the company in 2025 and Taven’s contract expired in 2026, Bennett remains signed to AEW as of this writing.

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