Immediate talent jumps? Maybe not anymore.
AEW/NJPW Protection
Stephanie Vaquer was at AEW/NJPW’s Forbidden Door against Mercedes Moné. After the match, it was suspected that WWE had been watching and immedietly scooped up Stephanie Vaquer, signing her to WWE NXT. She immedietly wrestled on WWE live events in Mexico and has recently made her NXT TV debut. Now, Fightful Select reports that AEW & NJPW expect protections to be put in place moving forward to prevent talent from immediately jumping to WWE after working AEW/NJPW shows, now that the Steph Vaquer signing happened.
Those that we’ve spoken to around the Mexican wrestling scene are of the belief that Vaquer will not need to return to the scene, and exited accordingly. Sources in AEW did say that she made a good impression with her Mercedes feud, but they could tell shortly after Forbidden Door that WWE had reached out and that she would eventually head to the company, though how quickly it came together surprised many.
Sources in AEW said that they understood the element of WWE wanting a great talent that they were also after, but didn’t quite understand the element of pulling her from CMLL dates before she could drop a title that she needed to drop. However, when she was quickly turned around and wrestled on the WWE Mexico shows, that alleviated some of the criticism, compared to her simply being signed and pulled off of shows.
Thus far, WWE have appeared to be very happy with Vaquer, and she appears to be enjoying her time there.
NJPW and AEW sources believe that it’s likely that talent that work Forbidden Door or co-promoted AEW shows in the future would have to make an agreement to not immediately go to WWE. That has not been confirmed within the company.
Stephanie Vaquer is set to team with Giulia in the coming weeks.
H/T Fightful Select
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