First off, I'll say Goldberg just to beat @TellumSiege to the punch.
IIRC, Dolph Ziegler/Nick Nemeth is on a 90 day non-compete, unless he was an exception among the post-TKO merger releases.
Rousey doesn't fit TK's description in his tweet.
"Known and respected by virtually every AEW fan"
Effy?
lmao. When it finally happens I'm going to post a full page of the “Randy Marsh covered in ectoplasm” pic in the discussion thread.
I think there's actually a decent chance he shows up at some point now that Sting’s brought in Ric Flair.
Rhonda feels like a long shot, with the "respect" line TK said. Brian Zane on Wrestling with Wregret mentioned Chris Hero, which would fit the bill. He's already helping behind the screen. Mickey James also came to mind, given her recent departure. She'd definitely help the women's division out.
Please, if there is a God, it better not be Rousey. She's just bad, and clearly cannot handle being anything other than the center of attention.
Ospreay isn't currently a free agent, and has been making a lot of noise about being a TNA kid and wanting to wrestle in a TNA ring, so I don't see him being All Elite until later in 2024 at the earliest.
Mone has already been seen at All In, so doesn't really fit the surprise category enough.
My money is on Ziggler.
Please, if there is a God, it better not be Rousey. She's just bad, and clearly cannot handle being anything other than the center of attention.
This. If CM Punk was also bad at wrestling and had shitty politics, he'd be Ronda Rousey. Last thing AEW needs is to deal with that shit in their women's division.
Andrew Zarian on the Mat Men podcast just said he has been told it's Ospreay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lfiL-aAruU
All signs are pointing to Ospreay but just for fun I'm going to go with someone completely different: Kenny King. He doesn't quite fit the bill of someone “AEW fans respect” but it's TK and he assumes we all know every wrestler under the sun.
Let me add one more: Giulia from Stardom. She doesn't fit any of Tony's hints but damnit is she a star in the making.
Those are def the top 3 it could be.
Fully feels like Ospreay/Mercedes are the safe bets. Not gonna lie tho, as much as I'm not really a Rousey fan I also wouldn't mind seeing her pop in (I say, knowing she'll do wonderful in her 30 seconds of ring time once a month lol).
Edit: https://www.patreon.com/posts/details-on-major-93021522
Mercedes Mone is not expected to be at or announced as the signing at Full Gear according to people within the company.
There are still working plans for Mercedes to work with AEW.
It better not be fucking Ronda Rousey. I have no respect for that woman.
Ospreay is the obvious choice, but I gotta think Mercedes is a good chance, especially since they went out of their way to avoid giving a gender.
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