Bea Priestley Says Piper Niven Was Offered AEW Contract In 2018, But Niven Had Already Signed With NXT UK

In 2018, Fight Forever in England ran a handful of shows that featured the likes of Bea Priestley, Brandi Rhodes, Piper Niven, Joe Hendry and more.

The events took place before the official announcement of AEW, but according to Priestley, Cody Rhodes and Brandi made offers to three talents at the event to join the upstart promotion.

“I got picked up with AEW because there was a British tour over Christmas in 2018,” recalled Priestley on That Sweet Pop with Dion McCracken & Brad Lewis. “I think it was called Fight Forever. I don’t think the company exists anymore. They had me on it, Piper was on it, and Cody and Brandi were on it. So was Kip Sabian. Basically, I had a match with brandi and Cody loved it. Brandi was really happy. Piper, the same thing, had a match with Brandi and they were really happy. They basically offer me, Kip, and Piper a contract. Piper had already signed with NXT UK. She couldn’t do it, but Kip was like, ‘Yes, I want to move to America.’ I was like, ‘I still want to do Japan.’ [AEW] hadn’t started at that point and I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t want to jump, no pun intended, all in, to something where I’m not technically sure what I’m getting into. They were like, ‘Do you want a part-time deal? You can still work full-time STARDOM.’ I was like, ‘Perfect.’

“It was per match appearance until Kenny (Omega), who has always been a good mentor for me. I think he’s always liked how dedicated I am to Japan and that I mix the Joshi and Western style a little bit. Kenny sat me down. Christopher Daniels tried to talk to me about signing full-time with AEW. This was September-October 2019, and I explained, ‘I don’t mean any disrespect.’ I was champion in STARDOM at the time as well. ‘I want to dedicate a lot of my time in STARDOM. I don’t want to up and go because you guys are after me and offered me a contract.’ [Daniels] was like, ‘Okay.’ A week later, Kenny talked to me and was like, ‘You can still work full-time STARDOM. We also want you full-time here. We’re not going to (conflict with) STARDOM dates, STARDOM can come first. We just want to have you when it fits your STARDOM schedule.’ Essentially, what I was already doing, but getting paid on a contract basis and not a per match one, which was great because COVID happened and I was still getting income for a few months.”

Priestley was featured during the early days of AEW, and was setting up a match against Nyla Rose for the AEW Women’s Title before COVID happened.

Priestley is currently signed to STARDOM.

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