AEW’s signing of Persephone made headlines, but now WWE is pushing back on the narrative that she chose All Elite over them.
According to Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live on January 16, 2026, WWE wants to make it crystal clear that they were never in direct talks with the 24-year-old CMLL standout—because they weren’t legally allowed to be.
“Persephone, I just want to clarify this. What I was told is that there have been stories saying she chose AEW over WWE, and of course the WWE side wasn’t happy about that,” Alvarez said on air. “WWE made it very clear they never spoke to Persephone. She has been under contract with CMLL and was not able to talk to WWE at all.”
While it was previously claimed by Dave Meltzer that WWE had shown strong interest in Persephone dating back to her Forbidden Door appearance last summer, Alvarez clarified that no official communication ever happened, due to her CMLL obligations.
“WWE was interested in her, but officially they could not talk to anyone who was already under contract with another company. That’s just how the process works.”
Persephone, who’s now officially All Elite, reportedly opted to add an AEW contract while remaining under CMLL—a rare dual-contract deal that further strengthens AEW’s working relationship with international promotions: “She then chose to add an AEW contract and become a dual-contract wrestler.”
That clarification is important, especially amid online speculation that WWE “lost out” on a breakout star. According to WWE sources, that simply isn’t how things went down.
The hype around Persephone started last year when she impressed at Forbidden Door in a TBS Title four-way match involving Mercedes Moné, Bozilla, and Alex Windsor. That performance reportedly put her on WWE’s radar, and things only escalated from there—including a ***1/4 match with Moné on October 17, 2025, which Meltzer called a turning point in her career. Still, no direct offer was ever made by WWE—and now she’s AEW’s newest addition.
WWE may have had their eye on Persephone, but according to them, she didn’t “pick sides”—she simply honored her CMLL deal and signed with AEW when the timing was right. With dual contracts in play, the talent war between AEW and WWE just got a lot more nuanced.
What’s your take: Did AEW outmaneuver WWE here, or was this just a case of timing and contract rules? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
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