AEW Releasing Tay Melo

Tony Khan has confirmed during the pre-Redemption 2026 media call that All Elite Wrestling are granting Tay Melo her release from the promotion.

Khan has revealed that Melo asked for her release following TayJay's AEW Women's Tag Team Title match with Divine Dominion on the June 6 episode of Collision as she wanted to step away from professional wrestling. Khan was taken aback, but he plans to grant Melo's request and release her from her AEW contract.

"With Tay, also a lot of inaccurate things I saw about Tay. To be honest, in this case there was smoke to the fire, but people were reporting the fire in the wrong place, so what does that really accomplish? With Tay, Tay had said she wanted to step away from wrestling. She said, 'I love AEW and I love the people here, but I want to step away from AEW and step away from wrestling.' That's what she told me. That wasn't in 2025, that was weeks ago at Collision after she wrestled against The Divine Dominion," Khan said.

"She came to me after the match and said, 'I would like the release.' I was taken aback. We had a very nice talk… We haven't had an unpleasant conversation ever. I've always had a very good relationship with Tay. She has asked about stepping away recently. It hasn't been a long thing, and also, I haven't kept her here. Since that talk I haven't brought her back, booked her, and I am going to give Tay that release."

Upon her release being granted, it will end Melo's run with All Elite Wrestling after six years. Melo made her AEW debut in August 2020, just months after her WWE release, and she has spent the vast majority of her AEW stint in the TayJay tag team with Anna Jay, although Melo also served as the manager of real-life husband Sammy Guevara in 2022 and 2023.

Melo was off AEW TV from May 2023 until June 2025, initially due to giving birth and raising her and Sammy Guevara's daughter, although she was cleared to return in August 2024 and she simply wasn't used by AEW for another 10 months. Melo has only been booked sporadically since then, having 17 matches in All Elite Wrestling over the past 13 months.

While Melo is set to exit AEW, there is no change in Sammy Guevara's AEW status, Khan confirmed on the media call, while Melo's tag team partner Anna Jay has signed a contract extension with the promotion.

It was originally reported by Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer that Tay Melo asked for her release in 2025 and AEW rejected that request.

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