Earlier this month, Daniel Garcia was left absent from AEW programming. This followed a vicious attack by MJF on Dynamite which saw him adopt a ‘heel’ persona after a defeat handed to Garcia by Will Ospreay in an AEW International Championship bout.
The decision to sideline Garcia, as eWn reports, was an strategic move by AEW. This was done to protect the franchise in case Garcia does not renew his contract and decides to leave.
Notably, on one of the recent episodes of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez made it clear that there’s an overall belief within the AEW community that Garcia will remain with the franchise.
Alvarez voiced, “What I can confirm is that nothing has been made official. Yet, there’s prevalent belief that chances are high for Garcia to re-commit to AEW.”
Meltzer responded, “That’s the same narrative I keep hearing. But nothing can be said for certain until he officially re-signs, so it’s all hypothetical now.”
Intriguingly, WWE was known to have expressed interest in acquiring Garcia in 2021. However, Garcia eventually made the choice in favor of AEW.