WWE doesn’t make formal talent signing announcements on a regular basis, so when it does, that says something. It did just that today for Jade Cargill.
News of the signing of Cargill to a multi-year contract was first broken by ESPN. Though it’s unclear if the 31-year-old Florida native will go directly to the main roster or spend some time in NXT first (there have been rumors of the former), she is reporting to the WWE Performance Center today.
Cargill was a college basketball player for Jacksonville University who began training to wrestle just four years ago — ironically, after first attending a tryout at the WWE Performance Center. She debuted with AEW in November 2020 in an angle that involved Cody Rhodes and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, and her first match on March 3, 2021 included both of them and Cody’s wife Brandi.
AEW showed tremendous faith in Cargill for someone so inexperienced, as she embarked on a lengthy winning streak that led to her capturing the AEW TBS Championship on Jan. 5, 2022. She retained that title (and her undefeated streak in singles matched) until May 8 of this year, when she was finally dethroned by Kris Statlander at Double or Nothing.
Cargill was off TV for several months before returning on an episode of Rampage earlier in September, when there were already reports circulating that she would be finishing up with AEW and potentially headed to WWE. She lost her rematch with Statlander on the Sept. 15 episode of Rampage in what has now become her final AEW match.
While she has the undeniable look and presence of a top star, Cargill can only benefit from working with some of the more experienced members of the WWE roster, and can inject some fresh matchups into the women’s division scene. Unlike Rhodes, who returned to WWE last year after spending years there in a previous stint, Cargill is notable as the first homegrown AEW talent to make the jump, and the wrestling world will be watching intently to see if she succeeds.
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