Stokely Hathaway aka Malcolm Bivens reportedly turned down a $250,000 WWE contract

As seen at the 2022 AEW Double or Nothing PPV event, former WWE NXT manager Malcolm Bivens made his debut under his real name Stokely Hathaway. Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com wrote the following in regards to Hathaway joining AEW…

“It should be noted Hathaway was offered a WWE main roster contract a few months ago at $250,000 and turned it down, so for him to turn it down, he almost had to be knowing he had a strong deal elsewhere.”

Hathaway’s WWE non-compete ended the day before the PPV. AEW President Tony Khan stated he never spoke with Hathaway until that point and the timing ended up working out for the PPV debut. Khan also mentioned that he wanted Hathaway in AEW since the beginning of the company.