The former AEW man might not be a free agent for long…

There has been an indication as to the next AEW star to be headed to WWE, and the move could occur as quickly as this week as Andrade El Idolo is expected to return to his former company on Monday Night Raw. The news comes after it was recently revealed that his AEW contract had expired.

Shortly before the Worlds End event over the weekend, the news dropped that the former NXT Champion’s deal would finish up after the show, with him becoming a free agent at the start of 2024.

Considering the long-running rumours that he was interested in returning to his former employers, speculation immediately began circulating about whether that would be his next move and it seems that will be the case.

Those within WWE expect Andrade to return

He’s expected back as soon as this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw

In the latest update, PWInsider have seemingly confirmed that this will be the next step for Andrade, saying that there is a belief internally that he will be back with WWE in a move that could happen as soon as tonight’s edition of Monday Night Raw. To add more credence to this, the star has seemingly cancelled some scheduled appearances he had with GCW in 2024.

“There’s an expectation internally that Andrade will be back with WWE as soon as Monday. He was advertised for at least one GCW event for 2024 and no longer is.“

While a swift return to WWE would be quite a shocking turn of events, Andrade has made no secret of his unrest in AEW, so it’s not entirely surprising to see him leave.

His time in AEW hasn’t been great

Andrade didn’t have the run he expected

The 34-year-old didn’t have the best of times in AEW, never really enjoying the success that he likely expected when he joined the company in 2021. From poorly-timed injuries to stop-and-start pushes, he’s been all over the place and backstage drama with the likes of Sammy Guevara hasn’t helped. The pair were involved in a physical confrontation after they got into a spat on social media.

At the time, it was reported by Dave Meltzer that Andrade was trying to get fired by purposely making his disagreement and brawl with Guevara a public affair, with Tony Khan reluctant to let the former NXT Champion get out of his contract early when the belief was that he had a desire to go back to WWE.

Still, Andrade made a return to All Elite Wrestling when the company integrated Collision into its weekly schedule last June. He had a series of matches against the House of Black’s Buddy Matthews, and, as we progressed into Autumn, he began a storyline with Miro which rumbled on until the Worlds End pay-per-view this weekend.

However, the pair’s scheduled singles match became clouded over the weekend by murmurs of when Andrade’s current contract would expire. Mike Johnson of PWInsider got the ball rolling by suggesting that El Idolo’s contract would be up ‘soon’, and WrestlePurists later reported that AEW expected him to ‘finish up’ with the company at Worlds End, becoming a free agent on the turn of the year and able to sign with WWE should he wish.

Should it happen, Andrade appearing on Raw would only add to the quality of the show that WWE is lining up. Tonight’s episode is being branded as a ‘Day One’ special, featuring defences of both Seth Rollins’ World Heavyweight Championship and Rhea Ripley’s Women’s World Title, as Drew McIntyre and Ivy Nile look to claim their respective gold.

As always, as more comes out about Andrade’s shock switch to WWE and potential Raw appearance, GiveMeSport will keep you informed.