Former WWE NXT and 205 Live superstar, Jake Atlas, last night made his debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) during an AEW Dark taping. The news may come as a surprise to many as, in September of this year, the 27 year old from El Monte, California had – in the wake of his WWE release – announced his retirement from professional wrestling.
Speaking of his retirement at the time, Atlas had this to say about his reasons for stepping away from the ring:
“I’m not concussed or ‘banged up.’ I simply just can’t keep going anymore. Take your mental health seriously, both for yourselves and for each other, because we only have one life to live. Thank you to anyone who did support me for 5 years. I didn’t do much, but what I did was fun.”
Atlas is a promising, young cruiserweight who – in a short, five year career – had established himself as a bright talent for the next generation of professional wrestlers. To hear him speak so self-deprecatingly was particularly difficult to muster. However, with an AEW Dark appearance under his belt, there is all the hope and possibility in the world that Atlas will make good of the opportunity and demonstrate to all the potential he has to succeed in the industry. At the taping, he was booked to defeat Serpentico and, at the conclusion of the match, had his hand shaken by AEW boss, Tony Khan – a very positive sign of things to come. Much like fellow cruiserweight and former WWE superstar, Lio Rush, Khan may have just convinced him to quash all talk of premature retirement.
All in all, we wish Jake Atlas the very best and hope that – in AEW – he has found a new home to showcase his skills and grow as a performer.
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Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TNT and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night.
