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During a media call today, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about the status of Anna Jay, Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo.
Khan responded:
"I’ll start in reverse order.
With Sammy, I thought it was unusual that people said there was a change in his status because nothing had changed. Sammy has done well; he's wrestling in Ring of Honor more often, he’s done good things in AEW, and as one-half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions, he appeared in AEW with LFI. It wasn't Sammy's fault—Beast Mortos's visa had been jammed up for a very long time. Because I really like Sammy and Beast Mortos, I went to CMLL and told them, 'They're great champions, they've done very well for me, and I think they'd be great for CMLL.' They got booked in Arena México defending the championships, made a few defenses, and then lost the titles to Máscara Dorada and Místico.
As I understand it, when Sammy changed his bio, I don't think he ever had AEW in it in the first place, so it wasn't a negative change. I got a nice message from Sammy saying he wasn't trying to do anything bad and that he loves AEW, and I believe that. Sammy has been a good wrestler for us in AEW and ROH—he's a great talent and a very good person. I don't think he meant anything by it, and it seemed like people jumped on him for something he didn't even do. Just messing around with a Twitter bio—it's amazing how people jump to conclusions and, in my opinion, unfairly target him.
That brings me to Anna Jay and Tay, both as individuals and as a team. They've been great together, and individually, they've both been here for many years. Their statuses, however, are very different. I saw a lot being reported about both of them that was very inaccurate.
Anna is in very good standing with us. She is out injured right now—I had been hoping to book her in recent weeks, but she had an injury and went for an MRI last week. Anna has a lot of time left on her contract and has actually extended with AEW. In her case, a lot of the reporting is completely false. I have a lot of work, so I don't spend my time myth-busting, but these rumors get carried away. Anna extended her deal and is staying in AEW, which is contrary to what much of the wrestling media reported—and speaks to the general accuracy of these types of reports.
As for Tay, I also saw a lot of inaccurate statements. To be honest, there was smoke to the fire, but people were reporting the fire in the wrong place. Tay told me she wanted to step away from wrestling. She said, 'I love AEW and I love the people here, but I want to step away from AEW and wrestling.' That wasn't in 2025; that was weeks ago at Collision after she wrestled against The Divine Dominion. She came to me after the match and asked for her release. I was taken aback, but we had a very nice talk. This contradicts reports that this happened last year or has been an ongoing issue.
I heard from Tay this week, and she mentioned she wasn't leaking those reports and that they really bothered her. We’ve always had a great relationship. She asked about stepping away recently—it hasn't been a long-standing situation. Since that talk, I haven't booked her, and I am going to grant Tay that release.
In all three cases, Dave, I've seen a lot of inaccurate reporting, even though each situation is completely different. Here's the thing: AEW is doing some of our best work right now. We're getting our highest TV viewership in years. Mainstream media and major media conglomerates are taking notice of how strong AEW's performance is, how good our viewership is, and how hot the company is. Our pay-per-views are doing extremely well since moving to HBO Max, and the quality of the product is high. Yet, every time we get into a strong position, people start talking. Not only do they bring up topics completely beside the point of how well AEW is doing, but it's amazing how often what's reported is exaggerated, inaccurate, or entirely made up. That is the truth on all three of them.
Regarding free agents, there are many great ones available right now with a lot of people coming out of contract. It's no secret that many talented wrestlers were recently released, putting more talent on the market. That's something I'm keeping an eye on because I'm very cognizant of the gifted people who were cut or released.
It’s an exciting time in pro wrestling, especially for AEW. I'm thrilled about how strong our viewership has been, and I'm very excited about AEW Redemption and the road to AEW All In. I think it's going to be an incredible event and a massive success. It's a big summer for AEW and wrestling. Right now feels like the best period for AEW in at least five years—if not ever. Thank you."
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