Is Kyle O’Reilly AEW-Bound?—Moose on Impact’s Mount Rushmore

If you watch NXT, then you’ll notice that Kyle O’Reilly has been relegated to the tag team division. There’s nothing wrong with that, but what must be kept in mind is where he’s been and what he’s accomplished so far at NXT.

This occurs just after working a feud spanning 3 matches and many months with Adam Cole. An incredible feud that was, and although his partner, Von Wagner is a tremendous talent, perhaps a better direction for O’Reilly would have been to go after the NXT title—especially for someone of his experience.

Johnny Gargano, who was featured in a tag match of his very own on this past week on NXT, did have a moment with the current NXT Champion, Tommaso Ciampa, but many are wondering what his future holds right now.

As it would turn out, however…the two aforementioned men…Gargano and O’Reilly, have something in common after all: their respective contracts are set to expire.

According to a piece at PW Insider, O’Reilly’s contract is set to expire as of December! We’ve already reported that Gargano’s is set to expire in January, which puts him in the same spot as Kevin Owens from WWE’s main roster. The question that remains is, are these three epic talents AEW-bound?

It’s a logical question to ask these days, and it’s obvious that not everyone can end up in AEW, but these three would be special additions to the AEW roster for obvious reasons—obvious to anyone that has seen them work and knows their histories in the industry, specifically the indies.

I must state that it is possible that they stay in WWE, as Pete Dunne did when his contract expired a few months back, although we haven’t seen him in a wee bit. With the new direction of NXT, I wonder if jumping ship right now to AEW wouldn’t be the best thing for all three of these men, but time will tell. We’ll keep you posted should new developments arise.

Moose talks about the Mount Rushmore of Impact and the Tag Me In initiative

It was while he was speaking with Perched on the Top Rope, that the current Impact World Champion revealed that Eddie Edwards was in fact his greatest rival to date, comparing himself to Lex Luthor and Edwards to Superman.

He also discussed the Mount Rushmore of Impact Wrestling specifically, as well as the Tag Me In Campaign and what it means. The Tag Me In Campaign is the bringing together of many professional wrestlers in the industry to raise awareness for the mental health struggles that wrestlers face.

The Tag Me In initiative came together after the Covid-19 pandemic and the isolation factor that it brought along with it. Wrestlers from across the board have joined in for the cause—Moose included.

On Just who he thinks is on The Mount Rushmore of Impact Wrestling:

“That’s a good one. Ok, I’m not going to add myself to this. It would have to be AJ Styles, definitely number 1. Number 2 would be Samoa Joe. Number 3 would be Chris Sabin. And number 4 would probably be Bobby Roode. Some might say Sting, or Kurt Angle, but I’m naming those originals who made their careers in Impact Wrestling. The last one is hard, because it’s either Eric Young or Bobby Roode.

It’s not fair we don’t have a girl in there. I would say AJ. I’m going to take Samoa Joe out, and put Gail Kim in. I would say AJ, Gail Kim, Eric Young, and Chris Sabin. The reason you have to have Chris Sabin in it is he’s an 8-time X-Division Champion, and World Champion. You have to add Eric Young in there because Young has won every single title in the company’s history. As much as I want to put Bobby Roode in, who would you take out? AJ is a definite, and Gail Kim is a definite…She made her name in Impact Wrestling.”

via Perched on the Top Rope /E-Wrestling News (Transcription)

On the Tag Me In campaign, Moose said:

“It means a lot to me. Unfortunately, this year we’ve lost, not only this year, but I feel like all these strikes in the wrestling community. Which is so weird, the mental health and a lot of people killing themselves, and suicide; because of mental health stuff that they’ve been dealing with. We have lost people that I would not necessarily consider them close friends, but people I have definitely done shows with, and hung out with. It’s sad, just because their mental health stuff was hidden, and not a lot of people knew about it.

Me personally, I deal with a form of mental health and it’s not as serious as depression, or some of the other things people suffer with, but I still suffer from real bad anxiety, and I get real bad apparent effects. Which I’ve had friends like Eddie, and my wife have to calm me down when I have one of these episodes, while not calling an ambulance. When I was given the opportunity to do it (Tag Me In), it was a no brainer, you know?”

via Perched on the Top Rope / E-Wrestling News (Transcription)

NEXT: CM Punk on how AEW is the Only Reason He Returned to Pro Wrestling—Is the ‘Forbidden Door’ Closed?