Officially confirmed by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, Bandido is contracted to All Elite Wrestling. The ex-ROH World Champion had debuted for the Tony Khan-fronted promotion during Dynamite’s 28 September broadcast, failing to win the title for a second time as he lost to Chris Jericho.
Interest in Bandido from both AEW and WWE in the aftermath of the acclaimed bout resulted in a month of speculation as to what the masked marvel’s next move would be. Writing in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that he ultimately chose AEW over the sports entertainment giant due to not wanting to relocate his entire family to Florida.
Meltzer added that Bandido’s current contract length is three years, keeping him locked down to the company until at least 2025. It’s said that there is an undisclosed maximum number of dates per year, though this is allegedly higher than the amount worked by the current AEW roster.
Fellow AEW Star Has High Praise For Bandido
Speaking in an interview with Inside The Ropes’ own Liam Alexander-Stewart, Matt Taven – a former ROH World Champion in his own right and now also linked to AEW – touted Bandido as this generation’s version of Rey Mysterio:
“I was telling anyone who listened to buy stock in Bandido because the price on that thing’s gonna start soaring. Before you knew it, it already had happened and I think Bandido is going to be you know, Rey Mysterio is one in 1,000,000, one in a lifetime and I think that Bandido could be our generation’s Rey Mysterio, just because he’s so unbelievably talented, and even a better person.
So like with that, with that young core that they are, and that’s not even, you know, there’s the Dragon Lee’s, and there’s, oh my God, there’s so many guys there. But like those guys, instantly, I kind of have really drawn to because I see the hard work that’s going in on the other end, and I see just how much they love it.”
Bandido is scheduled to wrestle his first match as an AEW-contracted performer on the forthcoming AEW Rampage tonight (Friday, November 11) as he battles RUSH in the opening round of the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit and link back to this article with a H/T to Inside The Ropes.