Stunt was able to get in contact with Tony Khan once he was formally told he would not be renewed.
Dating back to the inaugural Double or Nothing event, Marko Stunt had been a part of All Elite Wrestling. Present day, he is no longer with the company as his contract expired.
For the majority of his run, he was paired on-screen with Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus and collectively, they were known as Jurassic Express. Stunt spoke about his time in AEW and the final stretch of his time there while on NBC Sports’ ‘Ten Count’ podcast.
As his contract was nearing the expiration date, Stunt felt that his time in AEW was coming to an end. He had not been told anything officially, but began to get that feeling in October 2021. He added that although he had his section of fans, he did not see a reason for AEW to re-sign him at the time.
There’s a certain point where you just see stuff coming and like, I knew back in October that I was not — not 100 percent. They [AEW] hadn’t told me anything, but I knew back in October I wasn’t gonna be there much longer, you know? I knew when my contract was expiring and I was like they’re not — there’s no reason for them to re-sign me right now.
I wasn’t bringing anything to the table at the moment. I wasn’t adding anything to it. I wasn’t bringing in any audience or anything, and that’s not to say I didn’t have a fan base or anything. I had my fan base, but like, as in terms of making more for them, I wasn’t doing that but I will say I don’t believe that I was put in a position to be able to do that as well.
He went on to share that the communication between himself and AEW slowed down as his contract time was running out.
Stunt reached out to Tony Khan multiple times but did not receive a response. Once he was informed that he was not going to be re-signed, he texted Khan and thanked him for the opportunity to which Tony responded and thanked Marko along with saying sorry that he could not get a spot for him going forward. When he inquired about why he was not being brought back, part of the reasons that was cited was in relation to the budget.
That is actually where the communication kind of lacked a lot is when [my contract] time started running out. I did go — and I meant to say this as I was saying ‘we were close’ [Stunt & Tony Khan] but, there was a time when we weren’t either, you know? And then from there, it kind of just… we would see each other at work and be like, ‘Oh hey!!’ But I never really had any communication at the end. So I didn’t know if I was getting let go or renewed or anything. I sent out an email and didn’t get a response. I texted him, I didn’t get a response and like, but, about a month before it happened, I did get a call and I got told, not by him, but I did get the phone call that I wasn’t gonna be renewed and then I did text him. I was like, ‘Hey man, I just wanted to thank you for all the opportunities’ because it was a fantastic opportunity. I mean, I’m 25 years old and I was with the company for three years and I had a blast, I lived my dream so I wanted to thank him for that and he did text me back and he was like, ‘Hey man, thank you for everything. I’m sorry we couldn’t get a spot for you moving forward but…’ and I did tell him, I was like, ‘Maybe we’ll work together one day in the future’ and he was like — and he did say something to that and he was like, ‘There’s a possibility of that’ so that doesn’t mean at all that it is gonna happen. Not holding onto that, you know? But if it does, it does. If it doesn’t, I’m good.
I was told budget reasoning and that plans had just changed for what they wanted to do. That was really the only thing they told me so, it was kind of a general let go. Like, oh hey, we don’t — not able to do this.
The 25 year old Stunt was most recently in action at GCW ‘You Wouldn’t Understand’ in June where he wrestled Masha Slamovich. His most recent match in AEW took place in September 2021.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the ‘Ten Count’ podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
