On the March 4, 2026, edition of AEW Dynamite, wrestling fans saw David Finlay make his debut. This wasn’t the first time Finlay appeared on AEW programming, however, as he last showed up on Dynamite in the summer of 2022.
Before joining AEW, he worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling from 2016-2022. Finlay’s NJPW contract expired on February 17, according to Fightful Select. David Finlay was one of the hottest free agents, and a lot of people speculated that he could join WWE.
Another Fightful Select report said that the higher-ups in WWE were interested in signing Finlay after his NJPW deal expired. In the end, Finlay ended up signing with AEW and reunited with The Dogs.
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David Finlay Reveals Why He Joined AEW Instead Of WWE
Recently, David Finlay was interviewed by Bill Prichard of WrestleZone. He was asked to explain his thought process behind joining Tony Khan’s promotion, rather than WWE.
Finlay said he had made up his mind about leaving New Japan, as he didn’t like the 14-hour-long flights he had to take every week. In WWE, he could’ve joined his father, Fit Finlay, who works as a producer, and his brother, Uriah Connors, who works in NXT. But the wrestler decided to reunite with Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors instead, as these were the wrestlers he’d made a ton of money with. Finlay called this an “easy” choice.
“I got over doing a 14-hour flight four times a month and decided I wanted to leave Japan behind. Obviously, I’ve got family ties in another company, and I sat and thought about it. I was like, well, you know, I’ve never made a dime with my brother. I’ve never made a dime with my father. And I’ve made fat stacks of cash with these boys here. So the choice was easy.”
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Shortly after appearing on Dynamite, David Finlay made his Collision debut as well. He wrestled a trios match, tagging with Kidd and Connors, against enhancement wrestlers Cosmo Orion, GMO Kaminari, & Jaden Monroe. On this week’s Dynamite, Finlay teamed up with Gabe to defeat Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy as well.
Would you have liked to see David Finlay join WWE instead?
Main image credit: AEW
Ishaan Sharma has been following wrestling ever since he was 8. That was over a decade ago. He loves to write about this pretend sport and has worked with online publications such as Sportskeeda and TheSportster, where he shared his insights about the wrestling business.