Since launching AEW in 2019, Tony Khan has attracted a lot of talent, but with that comes difficult decisions because he can only use so many of them. Eventually, this results in departures. Khan doesn’t release people, in contrast to WWE. He chooses to let their contract expire instead.
That is what happened to AEW Original Leva Bates, who later announced her departure from the organization after working there as a wrestler and later in administrative capacities starting in April 2019.
She thanked AEW for the opportunity, even though she learned from other wrestlers that her contract wasn’t being renewed.
Bates said she has no regrets about her involvement with the company during a conversation on her Twitch stream and that she already has a number of independent bookings scheduled.
“Yes, I am longer with AEW, but that is okay. I put a lot of love and effort, and energy into that place and no regrets. I am so happy to be there from day one, before we even had a show, before we even had our first pay-per-view, and I have made history. I am a part of history. So I am forever grateful and forever will just be so thankful to have been a part of that. But, I probably realize, I am not performing as much as I would like to perform. So I’m taking all of this energy and focusing it on trying to make things happen.”
Later in the stream, Bates made a note that as she was leaving the dentist, she discovered she was no longer with AEW.
“When I got out of the dentist, I was going to do a work call, was gonna get done with the work call, call around for vets (for my pet) and then take him. I got out of the dentist and realized I didn’t have a job (she laughed). So, that changed some plans. I had to figure out a lot of things very quickly. Had to have a lot of conversations.”
You can watch her stream below:
(H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription)
