Awesome Kong & Shanna Leave AEW
Their contracts were not renewed
AEW Women’s Division competitors Awesome Kong and Shanna are no longer with the company, with their contracts not renewed.
Both Kong and Shanna’s pages were quietly removed from the AEW website over the weekend, with their exits from the company later confirmed by The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.
The releases shouldn’t come as surprising news. In the case of Kong, the veteran grappler has not wrestled for AEW since January 2020, and after not being cleared to compete an expected shift from an in-ring role to a coach role never fully materialised.
With Shanna, the Portuguese star returned in November after missing the majority of 2020 due to the pandemic, but reports from Fightful Select state that murmurs of her release were circulating as far back as April, and that there were allegedly issues between Shanna and other wrestlers - namely extras - who did not like how they were treated by her.
In fact Shanna’s last match was on the April 12 edition of AEW Dark Elevation - a losing effort to Leyla Hirsch - which was notable for how legitimately heated it felt.