Backstage Report On Details Of Mariah May's Deal With WWE
Less than a week after she was removed from All Elite Wrestling's roster page, former AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May has made her WWE debut. She appeared in the crowd on the June 3 episode of "WWE NXT," proclaiming herself to be the next NXT Women's Champion. Details regarding her AEW exit came to light over the past weekend, but now that she has landed in WWE, Fightful Select has provided more details on how the jump happened so quickly.
According to Fightful, May has put pen-to-paper on a multi-year deal with WWE, with her appearance on "NXT" being expected by many given the number of talents that have been moved around, promoted to the main roster, and let go in recent weeks. WWE made sure to keep her debut under wraps so no leaks would get out, so much so that all of the women involved in the segment May debuted in were only told about her moments before the segment started. With that said, a very tight circle of people knew she was officially signed to the company heading into the show, knowing full well that she would be starting her WWE journey on "NXT."
One part of her debut that many fans noticed was that WWE never referred to May by name, simply calling her glamorous as a reference to her nickname "The Glamour." Fightful has not heard any news on WWE changing her name, or any issues regarding the name as Mariah May (technically Mariah May Mead) is her real name. May has gone by her real name since she made her wrestling debut back in 2018, and would be able to use it if both parties were happy to do so, unlike someone like Ricky Saints, the former Ricky Starks, who did have his name changed despite appearing in WWE as Ricky Starks as an enhancement talent in the past.
What Was The Reaction From AEW?
Mariah May's love for WWE has been no secret, with social media posts dating back as far as before she was even a wrestler being spread across sites like X (formerly known as Twitter) since the news of her AEW contract nearing its conclusion first came to light. However, none of this seemed to impact her departure from AEW, with Fightful claiming that those within AEW didn't believe that she left the company on bad terms or with any sort of heat.
AEW were reportedly very interested in signing May to a new deal, though the details on what that deal may have looked like have not been revealed, but the vast majority of people within AEW knew she was leaving, knew she was going to WWE, and that she had been making moves in her personal life to accommodate the move to her new employers. Fightful also noted that a number of people in AEW fully expected her to debut on "NXT" and not the main roster, primarily due to the amount of women who have been moved to the main roster in recent months, such as Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia, and Roxanne Perez.
When May's profile was removed from AEW's official roster page on the company website, her management claimed that she was still under contract for an undisclosed amount of time. However, Fightful have since learned that her deal actually expired at the beginning of June and made the move to WWE as soon as she was available to talk to other companies as a free agent. Other AEW stars whose deals expired at the start of June were Abadon and Bear Bronson, but unlike the former AEW Women's World Champion, Abadon's profile is still on AEW's roster page despite confirming that she is no longer with the company.