Jade Cargill might have left AEW, but that doesn’t mean Tony Khan didn’t try and keep her on the roster.
At Double or Nothing when Cargill was pinned for the first time losing the TBS Title to Kris Statlander, everyone imagined she’d be back for revenge. In the immediate aftermath of the defeat it was reported that Cargill would be taking time off before returning with an updated presentation, but things didn’t quite work out as planned.
During this period Cargill’s AEW deal was running out, and negotiations were underway between the star and Tony Khan. However, as time passed it became clear Cargill was planning to let her contract run down and join WWE.
This led to the star making a quick return to television to lose a rematch with Statlander in September, and she became a free agent shortly after.
While Cargill stayed quiet in public, on September 26th, WWE announced she’d signed a multi-year contract with the company.
During the post-WrestleDream media scrum, Khan was asked about Cargill’s exit and the AEW boss revealed he made two big offers to the star in an effort to keep her.
“I knew Jade’s contract had been ticking down and we were talking about a new contract and I was very interested in Jade coming back and we were having a negotiation. I made a very big offer and I thought it was a very fair offer. I think she was considering it, and then she asked for a bigger offer and then I went up again, and I kind of thought that was going to do it.
Then, it didn’t, which I was surprised because to be honest, I came up to a number that was higher than her original ask. I don’t know what I would have had to do at that point. I was a little surprised. I did really hope that Jade would be back. I think I tried to handle it, when we were down to the nitty gritty and we were down to the final couple of weeks and we still hadn’t agreed to something, then it was at the point where I said, ‘if you aren’t going to stay, I’m going to give you the best possible exit.’
I have only good things to say about Jade. I really enjoyed working with her. She was a great part of AEW, she is always welcome here, I tried to give her the best possible send off I could.
The classiest send off I’ve ever seen in wrestling was, at the time, was when Ric Flair left the WWF. He did a match with Mr. Perfect, who was a natural person for him to wrestle, and that was it, he was gone. They didn’t do anything to embarrass him or mess him up, they let him leave, and he was still Ric Flair. He wrestled the match against the person he should have, finished up and left with not only his dignity and probably a better position than he came in. That’s what I tried to do. I wanted to give her the best possible send off,”
Khan went on to break down how the short-term agreement for Cargill’s return to the ring came together.
“The natural thing was, there was no rematch against Kris Statlander, so I had her do a run in knowing it would set up the match where she would likely finish up unless we came to an agreement at the last minute, which I was really still hoping would happen, down to the last minute. I only have positive things to say. I thought I had a good plan where, ‘if this is it, that’s where we’ll finish up.’
When she did the segment where she returned and did the run in, Tony Schiavone came to the monitor as my desk and said, ‘you’re a classy guy, boss.’ I think he meant it, it was a classy way to send her off. I try to make this a great home for wrestlers and I want people to see whether you’re coming in or coming out, we’re going to treat you well and I respect and value Jade, so I wanted to give her a big send off. I wish her the best and she would always be welcome back if she wanted to comeback,”
WWE Hyping Jade Cargill’s Arrival
By signing with WWE, Cargill became only the second major name to make the move from AEW to the sports entertainment giant, following in the footsteps of Cody Rhodes. As such, her arrival has been presented as massively important.
On the September 29th episode of SmackDown, WWE aired its first video package for Jade Cargill with Michael Cole putting over how important her signing was. The clip included news coverage of her signing.
H/t to Fightful