Tony Khan confirms another major departure from AEW after CM Punk
CM Punk wasn't the only performer to leave All Elite Wrestling over the weekend, as Tony Khan has officially announced the departure of another popular star.
The star in question is Sonny Kiss, who was an original member of the AEW roster back in 2019. While popular with fans, Kiss was slowly phased out of plans in All Elite Wrestling and found a home as part of The Trustbusters in Ring of Honor until her departure, which was originally announced by Fightful Select.
The subject of Sonny Kiss was brought up at the All Out post-show media scrum, which led AEW President Tony Khan to explain that he has a lot of love for the 29-year-old and said that the door is always open.
"I think I’ve done a lot to really keep the locker room stable and I have a lot of people that I not only keep under contract, but also I’ve done well to not do major mass layoffs and let 20-30 people go at a time. But I do think I can’t renew every single contract in AEW, it would be impossible, and with such a big roster and a limited amount of TV spots, I think Sonny Kiss is a great wrestler, and had a lot of potential from the very beginning of AEW, and still has a lot of potential as a wrestler, and I really like Sonny Kiss. I think Sonny Kiss could certainly be back potentially too. We’ve seen wrestlers go on and do some exciting stuff and come back, like Stu Grayson for example. So you never know what the future holds for Sonny Kiss or AEW," said Tony Khan. [H/T WrestleTalk]
Tony Khan also gave a reason for why Sonny Kiss was let go
The AEW President was very transparent when it came to the subject of Sonny Kiss. As previously stated, Tony Khan allowed Sonny's contract to expire and chose not to renew it. The main reason being, that it's incredibly hard to find TV time for everyone, and that the end of Dark and Dark: Elevation limited opportunities for Kiss and other performers.
"But I would say the same of every wrestler here, and right now with a huge crew, I think it’s hard to get everybody on TV. One thing that also is a challenge to be honest is losing Dark and Elevation, and it’s put more of an emphasis on five hours of television. So, I think some of that was made up with TV spots. So a lot of people have stepped up, but the roster has grown and grown. There are more wrestlers than there were when we started, it’s a much, much bigger roster than the original AEW roster that Sonny was a great part of," said Tony Khan. [H/T WrestleTalk]
Sonny's last match in AEW came on the April 18th, 2023 edition of AEW: Dark, where she and Jeeves Kay suffered a loss at the hands of The Iron Savages.
What do you think is next for Sonny Kiss? Let us know in the comments section down below!