Last week, Fightful Select reported that Powerhouse Hobbs’ All Elite Wrestling contract expired after he worked the Collision tapings. Different from others that eventually left the organization, Hobbs didn’t disappear from AEW programming for months before his deal finished up, which would give the impression that either Tony Khan expected to re-sign him before the conclusion of the contract or would ink him to a new agreement at some point before he actually left.
The rumor mill suggested that AEW made him a hefty offer to keep him on the roster, but he opted to test the waters of free agency, which is the smart move. There’s more or less no downside to explore other offers as a way to gauge his value in the industry, a key maneuver as the entire point of the pro wrestling business is to make as much money as possible. At 34, Hobbs is still in the prime of his career, and has a measurable level of experience working television so now would be the time to try to land a deal that would maximize his earnings, regardless of if that’s under the All Elite banner or not.
The narrative of the career of Will Hobbs isn’t uncommon, and in some ways, it’s a rerun of the same episode within AEW before. He reached a certain point in the company and for whatever reason plateaued in that position. He was a guy that was a pleasant surprise from the revolving door of newer talent that were shuffled through AEW Dark or Elevation during the pandemic. Understandably, the task to produce fresh content every week within the pandemic bubble was challenging for the entire industry. At a time where television content is more valuable of a revenue stream as any other time in history because of the massive TV rights deals that platforms are willing to offer as they attempt to stay ahead of the curve within the evolving media landscape, the pandemic era programming from any organization would be tough to watch again under normal circumstances. AEW more or less had an open door policy during the time that they needed talent to fill those roles in Jacksonville, and while some of them were going to go back to their desk as an insurance salesman after they got squashed by The Acclaimed or The Dark Order as weekend warriors, Hobbs was one of the solid performers that was discovered during that time.
Of course, when he started as Will Hobbs, it was a more basic approach to his presentation, but he really found himself and evolved as a performer as time went on, specifically when he was aligned with Taz. I’m not sure the Team Taz stable ever got off the ground the way that it could’ve as an entity itself, but it was undoubtedly beneficial, both for Ricky Starks and Hobbs. In truth, the Powerhouse persona suited Hobbs perfect because he has the power move set of someone like Big E with the massive upper body while still being very agile, and he had the character similar to Taz from the original ECW. If borrowing a few successful elements from different performers works, as it has for others in the past then it can be used as a successful formula after Hobbs put his own spin on the overall presentation.
The problem is, like so many before him, Hobbs made very little overall progress in the company, despite the progress he made for himself as a performer. Let’s be honest here, the guy is an impressive in-ring athlete that looks like a monster, but he more or less hit a ceiling in terms of productive booking after he had a one-month run with the TNT championship. He spent a few years in the Don Callis stable, but he was mostly a secondary figure in the faction. His time with the Opps group in 2025 gave him more television time, but what exactly has he had the chance to do that would allow him to boost his stock? How has Powerhouse been booked to become a bigger star within the past three years?
As I’ve written several times prior, at some point, it comes down to talented wrestlers spending some of the prime years of their careers either under the radar or sitting in catering, prompting the question of if they are wasting their potential to possibly become bigger stars for bigger money in the long-term in exchange for the short-term money?
I think it’s fair to say that Powerhouse Hobbs has been underutilized during the majority of his AEW tenure, and it goes without saying that the WWE should make him an offer because he checks all the boxes for what they look for when they recruit talent to mold into money-drawing stars. Now, the scenario where talent can spend some of their prime years under the radar isn’t exclusive to AEW, as the same thing could’ve been said for several years about NXT.
According to The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, Hobbs is slated to sign a WWE deal. That’s not surprising when you take into account the skills that he brings to the table that were mentioned earlier, but it reinforces a common narrative that has developed in recent years, Hobbs’ tenure in AEW amounted to an audition for WWE rather than becoming a star for AEW because of the way his run there became stagnant. Furthermore, if Hobbs inks a WWE contract, I’d expect him to be another example of someone that looks like more of a star in two weeks in WWE than they did for a few years in AEW.
Sure, the pryo and ballyhoo of the sports entertainment spectacle enhances the presentation, but the much bigger point is that talent are given a meaningful direction on the show. When Bron Breakker eventually turns baby face, which shouldn’t be any time soon, Hobbs would be a great monster to add to the Paul Heyman stable to give Breakker opponents to work with. I could be wrong, but I think Hobbs is a guy that has a significantly bigger upside than anything he was given the chance to show in AEW. That said, I think it would make sense for Hobbs to at least be given an introduction in the developmental brand, as not only would it give him a chance to adapt to the WWE playbook, but it would also help replenish the NXT show since there were a series of recent call-ups to the main roster.
Along with that, and this isn’t meant as a knock on Tony Khan, several talents, including three of the Rascals group, were just added to the All Elite roster so there are better odds for Hobbs to get lost in the shuffle going forward if he re-signed than there were prior to his departure. I’ve written it several times before, but it still remains true, and might be the main difference between the philosophies of the two major companies in the United States, if you try to get everyone over, nobody gets over. WWE struggled with this at times as well with a 50-50 booking approach, mostly under the Vince regime in the years before his exile, but the ability to build compelling storylines across a show, similar to how this week’s episode of Raw put a few different pieces of the puzzle in place for The Royal Rumble, is an example of how to establish depth on the roster.
You can parse detail, and what strategy is better is often subjective. There’s no doubt that AEW has an immense amount of talent on their roster, but the sheer number is so bloated that much of that talent isn’t given the chance to work to their fullest potential. As we know, the WWE has a ridged, maybe too rigid, recruitment process, but the point is, if the invest money into putting a talent under contract, there’s the notion that they must see a return on that investment in some form or fashion. Obviously, not everyone is going to work the main event of Wrestlemania, the logistics of such a situation aren’t possible, but the top of the card isn’t the only barometer of success. There’s a reason that R-Truth had a job for years, and why there was such an outrage when he was released to the point that he was rehired, because he can do anything they need him to do. Finn Balor just worked against CM Punk for the title on Raw, and he’s a guy that you could argue didn’t get a fair chance to get back into the main event scene after he was injured in 2016, but there’s a reason that he has remained on the roster in a featured role. The card needs the “glue” to bring the overall presentation together, and there are valuable guys that have accomplished careers in that role.
It seems like AEW doesn’t have that structure to truly allow for an opening stanza, a mid-card, the semi-main, and then a main event scene. Too often, it’s either the performer is completely off the radar or they work a twenty-minute spot fest on pay-per-view. Without the true mid-card in the company, there’s arguable a lack of depth as far as star power, and definitely a lack of development of talent across the board. That’s probably why Hobbs’ progress stalled a few years ago. The biggest takeaway from this story, depending on if Hobbs actually signs with the WWE, is that it could be another example of the WWE being able to make someone look like a bigger star within weeks than they did for a few years in AEW. which might be an indication of the overall philosophy of each organization.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
