AEW had the most impactful free agent signings of 2024

Even though it sometimes gets lost among the tribalistic noise, having two major professional wrestling promotions in the United States has contributed greatly to the business's overall health. The most prominent area where this manifests itself is with wrestler movement between the promotions.

Before All Elite Wrestling challenged WWE's virtual monopoly of the industry, wrestlers had limited occupational options, which for many of them meant restrictive creative opportunities and suppression of their earning potential. Of course, adding one more multi-million-dollar company to the wrestling ecosystem doesn't fix all of the sport's issues, but things are in a better place.

We saw some of these positive results in 2024, as AEW and WWE brought some impressive names to their respective federations.

But which of the two made the more impactful free-agent moves?

The best way to answer that is to look at what each company did in 2024. Let's start with the younger of the two. By now, most wrestling recognize how talent-rich AEW's roster is, but that didn't stop Tony Khan from adding to the treasure chest. After all, when you can sign stars like Ricochet, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, The Hurt Syndicate, and Mercedes Moné to your ranks, you jump at it as if you had swapped bodies with Zion Williamson.

Yes, you can quibble with some of AEW's booking decisions for these names, but that doesn't diminish what they add to the organization. Ricochet's run in AEW got off to an uneven start (punctuated by a strange-at-the-time segment with MVP), but he has revitalized himself as a heel and is set for a fun program with Swerve Strickland.

Even though most fans didn't care for The Elite's big "company takeover" storyline over the summer, they got a kick out of Okada's comedic timing while still enjoying what he brought between the ropes as New Japan Pro Wrestling's longtime ace.

The trio of Bobby Lashley, MVP, and Shelton Benjamin made an impact almost immediately after debuting in the fall. As was the case in WWE (before Vince McMahon split them up for no good reason), the triumvirate presents themselves and carry themselves like stars, and that carries over to their matches.

After joining AEW following a well-documented bidding war with WWE, Ospreay quickly showed why he was worth every cent by producing several Match of the Year contenders and establishing himself as one of the promotion's top babyfaces.

Of all of them, though, Moné's signing came with the most hype, and while the early returns have brought mixed reviews for her character work, she has made up for that with her in-ring work, especially in her two classic matches with Kris Statlander to close the year. At the very least, her arrival to the promotion finally forced Khan and the company to take the women's division seriously (though there's still work to be done in that area). Consequently, the ladies have become the most consistent aspect of the product.

And those were just the big signings. When you include the relatively mundane acquisitions like the hilarious MxM, Bryan Keith (the only redeeming aspect of Chris Jericho's Learning Tree stable), the underused Grizzled Young Veterans, and the instant sensation Hologram added to AEW's already-considerable midcard depth.

WWE also did a nice job with their signings.

That's not to dismiss the moves WWE made in 2024. The company started the year off by bringing back Andrade, and despite the autopilot booking he's received since his return (see: his seemingly endless feud with Carmelo Hayes that WWE tried to retcon as a "best-of" series), he has bolstered any show he's on with his workrate.

Former Major League Wrestling World Champion Jacob Fatu was WWE's other big signing. All he's done since joining the promotion is inject life into a long-running Bloodline story that always ends up on life support once WrestleMania season ends. With fans being somewhat iffy on Solo Sikoa as a main event act, Fatu's intensity and athleticism has caught everyone's eye to the point where most recognize that his ascent up the pecking order is the true goal of this stanza of the angle.

The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) was the big tag team signing of 2024. While the decorated duo has fallen prey to WWE's haphazard tag team booking, even with a reign as WWE Tag Team Champions, their ability to get even the most uninterested crowds invested in their matches is a testament to how good they've been for years.

On the women's end, bringing Naomi back after she spent her time in TNA proving herself as a main event talent was another strong get for WWE, even if Triple H and company have slotted her back into her upper midcard role. If nothing else, her returning after how the promotion released and disrespected her shows how things have ostensibly changed since Vince McMahon's shameful ouster (though not as much as you think).

WWE didn't just splurge on the main roster; it also added to its NXT depth. By acquiring STARDOM star Guilia and grabbing CMLL's Stephanie Vaquer fresh off of her standout match with Mercedes Moné, the company turned a relative strength—the NXT women's division—into one of the best divisions in the world. The powerhouse Zaria (the former Delta) also improves that lofty reputation, even though her early booking has been more uneven than the other two.

The men's side didn't get shortchanged as WWE brought in former AEW star Ethan Page as a stabilizing veteran presence. Now, some will argue that Page received too big of a push upon his arrival (they put the NXT Championship on him a few weeks after his debut and he responded with some underwhelming title matches), but it did give him a credibility boost and that should help him in the long run as the brand's upper midcard gatekeeper.

The rest of WWE's signings are more up-and-down, but overall, they were a net positive. Signing the Guerrillas of Destiny from New Japan Pro Wrestling works because it involves bringing Tama Tonga into your company but also comes with Tonga Loa. Shawn Spears works as a reliable midcard hand, but that's about it. And Erik Rowan returned to participate in the Wyatt Sicks story, but that group's diminishing importance on weekly television tells you everything about how that's going.

AEW gets the slight edge, but both companies get a thumbs up.

Again, AEW and WWE made great signings in 2024, but it's hard to ignore the top-level additions the former made. It's hard to outdo signings like Ospreay, Moné, and Okada, even though WWE got wrestlers who fit their in-ring product. That's the benefit of having more than one major wrestling promotion.

Now that wrestlers don't just have WWE as an option if they want to make big money, it allows them to join the promotion that best suits them as performers, and it gives them a chance to negotiate for higher wages (though this privilege is usually reserved for the top stars). That's something that all wrestling fans should agree on.

It wouldn't surprise anyone if the big moves from these companies continued in 2025. We'll have to see which big names become available as the year progresses, but even if next crop of free agents isn't as fertile as 2024, both promotions will still benefit from this past year's signings.