Report: The Kingdom sign multi-year AEW contracts
The Kingdom’s Matt Taven, Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett are now under multi-year AEW contracts according to a Fightful report on Wednesday.
The trio, who debuted at the end of the Friday, October 14th Rampage from Toronto, Canada, weren’t officially signed at the time of their appearance. As part of the show-closing angle, they challenged FTR for the ROH Tag Team titles — the date and location for which have yet to be announced.
Of the three, Kanellis-Bennett has a talent-only contract and is not expected to wrestle.
The three, and Vincent, recently wrapped up with Impact Wrestling, losing the Tag Team titles to Heath & Rhino on last week’s TV that was taped following this month’s Bound for Glory. Vincent was recently spotted backstage at a WWE Raw TV show which has led to speculation about his future employment.
Dave Meltzer had reported that WWE had interest in Taven while Fightful reported Bennett and Kanellis-Bennett had conversations with WWE but were unsure of any contract offer coming out of those talks. FTR had reportedly pushed for the team to be signed by AEW.
The Kingdom has yet to appear on AEW TV, Dark or Dark: Elevation since making their debut.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.