QT Marshall Reveals Reason for Not Joining WWE After AEW Departure

QT Marshall, who had been with AEW since its inception, left the promotion when his contract expired last year. While many felt he might go to WWE and work with Cody Rhodes, he returned to AEW in a different role. That being said, Marshall revealed that he did have a conversation with WWE, and it didn’t exactly go well.

Marshall has worn many hats since the company’s inception, including wrestler, manager, producer, and now Vice President of Show and Creative Coordination of the company. Many fans feel Marshall’s current role in the company is what he truly excels at as well.

While speaking with Steven Muehlhausen The Takedown on SI, QT Marshall explained that he does a lot of different things in wrestling, which is why AEW is a good fit for him. He said that while WWE used to be a dream job, he no longer felt the same way. After Cody went to WWE, Marshall told Tony Khan that he didn’t want to leave AEW to work in WWE’s big system.

“I have so many positives in wrestling when it comes to what I bring to the table. I make too many to the point where no one has a clue what to do with me, which is why I fit in so well at AEW because I don’t have just one role. I just do as much stuff as I possibly can. Of course, it dawned on me to think about it. I remember telling Tony a long time ago when Cody first went to WWE, ‘I’m never going to leave AEW to go work in the office at WWE. I just won’t do it. That’s such a large system’. I’m like Tony’s right-hand man. So why would I leave to go be number 7,000 in a company, work more hours, more days on the road, just to say I work for WWE? Like 20 years ago, of course, I would have done anything to work for WWE. Now, it’s different. If it was just talent related, and I told Tony this as well, ‘If they came to me and we spoke about just being a talent on the main roster, of course. I mean, that’s the dream.”

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Marshall also shared that he had a conversation with WWE in early 2024 after his contract with AEW ended. However, he didn’t feel good about the discussion. He had already spoken to Tony Khan about returning to AEW and felt that the WWE offer wasn’t right for him. Marshall said he was just looking for a reason to say no, and after the conversation with WWE, he decided to stay with AEW.

“I had one conversation with somebody that doesn’t even work there anymore. I just got rubbed the wrong way during the conversation. It was like, ‘Hey, yeah, oh yeah, that’s great. All right. I told him, like, yeah, all right, we’ll stay in touch’. To me, it was like I’m not staying in touch. I had all that time between November and January, so that on January 1 when that conversation did arise or January 2, whenever it was. It was like I kind of knew plus I had already spoken to Tony before that, so I kind of knew. I think I was just looking for a reason to say no.”

QT Marshall is happy working in AEW in his backstage role because it allows him to still wrestle in other companies. He appreciates Tony Khan for giving him these opportunities, and for Marshall, that’s what matters most right now.