Sarah Stock Joining AEW Was Delayed Almost A Year Due To Visa Issues

On March 17, 2023, Sarah Stock announced that she was All Elite, joining the company as a producer and coach. 

Stock started with the promotion on March 15 at the TV tapings in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Stock previously worked with WWE as a producer and coach, but was laid off during the pandemic in 2020. 

Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Stock revealed that she had began talking to AEW in 2022, but visa issues delayed her joining the promotion. 

“I was in Mexico at the time. I had been out of the ring for seven years, I hadn’t wrestled. I had made the decision to get back in the ring for three matches in Mexico, that was it, just have this little comeback, but it wasn’t planned to be a full time return, just motivation to get me back in the ring. I’m not sure what sparked the interest, but it was shortly after I made that decision and went back to Mexico to prepare for those matches that AEW got in touch with me. It all moved very quickly and then very slowly. Quickly in terms of, I really wanted to work with the company and we came to an agreement on things. The unfortunate part is, being a Canadian citizen, things aren’t as easy as starting to work. Rolling the red tape, getting visas, it was about a year after that conversation that I actually stepped foot through the doors in Winnipeg,” she said. 

Stock wrestled a handful of matches in Mexico in April and May 2022. 

She continued, “Obstacles kept coming up in that process. Thankfully, the AEW legal team and the law firm they work with to get visas were excellent in staying positive and keeping me positive because at that point, I stopped my whole life. I was done in the ring, I did these little matches in Mexico, and I’m going to get ready to go to work in AEW. I thought in a couple of months I would be there and ready to go. Everything stopped. It was limbo and frustration because I didn’t know if the visa would ever come through. When It finally did, it was the biggest relief. I’m so glad it all worked out.”

As an in-ring competitor, Stock is a former two-time TNA/IMPACT Women’s Knockout Tag Team Champion and a former Wonder Of Stardom Champion.

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