AEW Star Marko Stunt, who is one of the company’s most beloved talent as well as one of the company’s fastest rising and brightest stars, made his AEW debut at the first-ever Double Or Nothing PPV on May 25th, 2019. He last competed for AEW on the October 4 episode of Dark: Elevation, when he teamed with Fuego del Sol for a lost to Shawn Spears and Wardlow. Prior to that, Stunt faced Serpentico in a one-on-one match on the October 5 episode of Dark and came out of the match on the losing end.
Marko Stunt would take to Twitter last January and reveal that he is now accepting indie bookings and that he is ready to compete in countries outside of the United States. It was revealed at the time on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Stunt is still under contract to AEW and that he’s still being paid by the company, despite having been off of AEW TV for a number of months and unlike the WWE, who does mass releases, AEW is trying to be different by only releasing talents for disciplinary reasons, but All Elite Wrestling will not be renewing contracts of talents who has their deals coming up, most especially if they aren’t being used.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter also stated that this doesn’t necessarily mean the company will not be renewing Marko Stunt’s AEW deal once it expires, which according to PWInsider.com is set to happen in May, but it was pointed out that Stunt not being present at the time that Jurassic Express won the AEW World Tag Team Champions by beating Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) was really significant and that could turn out to be a massive contributing factor to whether or not the company re-signs him as there have been merchandise designs pitched for Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, but Stunt was not featured in any on those designs and it was then that Marko Stunt’s AEW future had been up in the air.
Fightful Select recently provided an update, where it was indicated that Marko Stunt received a phone call from Christopher Daniels last week, who represents AEW Talent Relations and he was informed that All Elite Wrestling will not be renewing his contract, with two reasons was cited, one is budget cuts and the second reason is the company’s roster size. Stunt was reportedly also told by Daniels that he not being part of Jurassic Express’ creative plans was a huge contributing factor.
The report also states that Marko Stunt suffered a concussion this past October and despite making an effort to reach out to All Elite Wrestling in order to get booked on certain shows to prove that they should renew his contract with the company, they “ghosted” him and he was not booked, but they didn’t even provide a reason and it is interesting to note that Daniels made the call to Stunt just one week after Joey Janela made mention of how AEW had “ghosted” Stunt, though it was also said that the split between the two sides was amicable and Stunt’s conversation with Daniels went well.
Ever since Marko Stunt has not appeared on AEW TV, AEW has dropped the Jurassic Express name from the current AEW World Tag Team Champions and now they are just known as Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus.
