It’s been a year of addition for AEW, with the promotion already signing a handful of stars, and reportedly poised to sign more as the summer moves forward. But another addition may be planned for AEW, one that doesn’t involve a signing, but would instead see a long absent wrestler return to the fold. Fightful Select reports that, several months ago, discussions began within the promotion regarding the return of Keith Lee. 

How far along those discussions are a mystery, however, including whether those discussions ever made it to Lee himself. It was noted, however, that whatever those plans are would likely be changed at this point, or even scrapped, as a source close to the situation said Lee’s return would’ve happened as planned if AEW had followed through. It remains unclear whether Lee has actually been cleared to return to the ring, and he has not been a regular presence backstage at AEW events; if he needed to be cleared, it’s believed Lee would’ve been around to be checked by doctors, which was described as a multi-week process.

Lee, best known as a former NXT Champion and a former AEW World Tag Team Champion with Swerve Strickland, hasn’t been seen on AEW programming since late 2023. At the time, Lee was set to face Strickland in a one-on-one match at AEW Worlds End, only to be pulled from the show with an injury the day of, with Dustin Rhodes replacing him. Since then, Lee has only commented sparingly on his absence, though he did confirm he would return to the ring at some point in a post on X last fall.

Adam Cole has been a beloved person in wrestling from the indies to ROH to NXT to AEW. He joined AEW in a surprise debut at ALL IN 2021. Since then, he has battled multiple health issues that have kept him out of the ring for extended periods of time. In 2022, he suffered back-to-back concussions. He was ROH Tag Team Champion with MJF before suffering an ankle injury in 2023. That injury required multiple surgeries. Last year, he had to relinquish the TNT Championship at ALL IN Texas in a tearful segment due to a concussion. Following the most recent concussion, he considered retirement.

Cole had been part of AEW’s All Elite Arcade podcast with Evil Uno, but the AEW Games channel appears to be on hiatus. Cole’s good friends, the Young Bucks, were asked about him during a live episode of “Being the Elite”. Nick said they had just spoken to him recently. “It’s step by step for him. He’s just trying to take it day by day, but he’s having improvements, which is good.” Matt asked for fans to keep Cole in their thoughts and prayers. “He’s the best person I’ve ever met in the wrestling business without exaggeration.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Being the Elite and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Now seven years in, the battles between AEW and WWE seem to be as heated as ever. That’s going to lead to a bit of awkwardness now, as both promotions are now frequenting a similar platform. On Monday, AEW content was uploaded onto the Fox owned streaming service Tubi. At the moment, the service only carries the first several years of “AEW Dynamite” starting with the debut episode in 2019 and going up to the last “Dynamite” of 2021; no episodes of “Collision” “Rampage,” “AEW Dark,” “AEW Dark: Elevation,” or AEW PPV’s have been uploaded at this time.

What may raise eyebrows the most regarding this story is that AEW and WWE programming can now be found on the same streaming service for the first time ever. Tubi currently features several WWE programs, including old episodes of “WWE NXT,” the A&E series’ “WWE Rivals” and “WWE Biographies,” and “WWE Evolve,” which airs on Tubi every Wednesday night opposite “Dynamite.” At the moment, it’s unclear whether this is a sign that Tubi will be replacing WWE with AEW content, or if both promotions will remain on Tubi going forward.

Tubi now becomes the latest service to offer AEW programming in a year that has since the promotion look to bolster their presence outside of Amazon Prime Video, which airs AEW PPVs, and HBO Max, which airs “Dynamite” and “Collision” live, AEW PPVs, and features the AEW video library. Just one month ago, AEW launched the streaming service MyAEW, allowing international fans to purchase AEW PPVs, while also providing a 24/7 FAST Channel of older AEW content.