The New Level’s Kofi and Austin Creed have signed five-year contracts with AEW. According to a new report from Fightful Select, Swerve Strickland played a direct role in connecting the two with the promotion.
Strickland helped make the initial contact, but Tony Khan did not want to talk directly with Kofi and Creed while they were still under contract with WWE, the report adds. Khan had explained at the All In media scrum that he waited until their 90-day non-compete period expired and then gave it a few extra days to be safe.
The report also lines up with what Kofi said on The Ariel Helwani Show in September. He revealed that their contracts were not signed until less than 24 hours before All In, even though he and Creed had already decided they wanted to work for AEW.
Creed has gone into more detail about Strickland’s role. He said the idea of competing for the AEW World Trios Championship came from Strickland himself, who saw the match as a chance to introduce The New Level to several AEW teams at once.
Kofi and Creed left WWE after being offered a pay cut of more than 50%. They were still early in new five-year contracts when WWE tried to renegotiate their salaries.
Fightful Select also reported that the AEW World Trios Championship loss was part of the original creative plan. Strickland, Kofi and Creed dropped the titles to Hangman Page, Bandido and Brody King at WrestleDream on Saturday, ending a 48-day reign.