Ari Daivari is set to arrive in All Elite Wrestling soon.
Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage saw a promo video for Ari Daivari, aka former WWE star Ariya Daivari.
Ari Daivari (@AriyaDaivari) coming soon ?#AEWRampage #FyterFest Night 4 is on @tntdrama! pic.twitter.com/b5h8Kb7zwe
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 23, 2022
No reason was given for the name change but it appears that the company has big plans for him with a character update. Daivari has worked several matches for AEW in the past, including multiple matches at the company’s most recent set of AEW Dark tapings in Orlando.
Ariya Daivari is best known for his five-year run with WWE from 2016–2021 where he was a regular on the company’s 205 Live roster. Daivari was released in June 2021, but he ended up being brought back for a brief run as a producer in April 2022. In addition to making his AEW in-ring debut in September 2021, Daivari also competed for the NWA and New Japan Pro Wrestling this year, among other independent promotions.
Daivari spoke with WrestleZone after his WWE release about his relationship with Tony Nese, noting how much they clicked towards the end of their respective runs with the company.
“Tagging with Tony was a lot of fun because in real life we’re really good friends and we actually became friends when 205 Live and the whole cruiserweight division started. If people remember, me, Drew [Gulak] and Tony were like this trio they put together,” he noted, speaking about how they were designated as the inaugural heels for the brand that worked in six-man tags quite often.
“We were hoping it was going to continue on into an NXT run, or a RAW run, a SmackDown run as a tag team cause again, it is WWE. They may not think a lot of the cruiserweight division or smaller guys,” he noted, “but I thought as I tag team, I said, ‘I think we’re a very formidable team together,’ so we can wrestle whether it’s Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode or the Street Profits or whoever. Any tag team, not just NXT, not just 205, but any tag team in WWE, I think me and Tony [would do good] in that situations.”
