Is Dean Ambrose Heading Back to WWE? New Hint Fuels Buzz as Jon Moxley’s AEW Contract Timeline Emerges

Are we really doing the Dean Ambrose-is-coming-back conversation again? Alright, let’s talk it through, because the rumors are loud, the tea leaves are being read, and the actual facts are not exactly subtle.

Where things actually stand with Jon Moxley

Back on October 8, 2022, AEW boss Tony Khan jumped on X to announce that Jon Moxley had signed a five-year extension with AEW. He even plugged that Mox would wrestle that same night to kick off AEW’s Year 4 on TNT with a live Rampage and Battle of the Belts IV. AEW’s official accounts backed it up and added a key detail: Mox wasn’t just sticking around as a top star, he’d also be mentoring and coaching talent behind the scenes.

Do the math on that deal and you land at 2027. So, contractually, Ambrose-to-WWE is a no for now.

Mox himself made the reasoning pretty clear in a 2022 interview with SI: he signed because he didn’t plan on going anywhere else, he was happy, and AEW felt like the right place for him. Simple as that.

So why is everyone buzzing now?

A couple of things have stirred the pot lately. WWE’s been in a very different place since Vince McMahon’s exit, and that shift has coincided with a wave of big-name returns. Also, after the first RAW following Crown Jewel, the Shield radar started pinging again. The storyline chatter got messy — there was talk of Seth Rollins being betrayed by something called The Vision, which is odd since The Visionary is Rollins’ thing. The gist: fans felt like WWE was planting Shield breadcrumbs.

Then WWE Vault spun up a livestream called 'The Complete History of The Shield.' That’s the sort of programming choice that makes people go full corkboard with red string.

Quick Shield refresher

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins crashed onto the main roster in 2012 as The Shield, running roughshod as enforcers for Triple H’s Authority before morphing into The Hounds of Justice. They reset the bar for WWE factions and all three eventually became Grand Slam Champions and legit singles headliners.

What fans are saying right now

• Aug 4, 2025: One fan basically said, see you in 2027 — as in, Ambrose returns when the AEW deal is up.
• Oct 14, 2025: Another pushed back on the hype, noting that companies share old footage all the time and pointing out Mox has been a top guy in AEW since the jump.
• Sept 6, 2025: Plenty of meme-level patience posts. The waiting room is crowded.
• Sept 6, 2025: Someone cited recent shocks like CM Punk and Brock Lesnar coming back as proof anything can happen — they also mentioned AJ Lee returning, which is not actually a thing, so take that part as wishful thinking.
• Oct 10, 2025: Fantasy booking is alive and well: Ambrose surprise returns at Royal Rumble 2026, wins, and rolls into WrestleMania 42 as a would-be world champ. Sure. Why not.

Rollins weighs in on a Shield reunion

Seth Rollins talked about it on WFAN and did not exactly pour gasoline on the fire:

'I mean, look, one of our guys is over in the other company. So he ain’t coming. And Roman Reigns and I are here for life... You never know. You never know what WrestleMania is going to look like. You never know what next month is going to look like.'

Translation: as long as Mox is under AEW contract, a full Shield reunion isn’t happening, but wrestling is chaos and no one wants to slam the door shut. Fair.

Could Ambrose come back before 2027?

Never say never is the industry’s unofficial motto, but the boring, adult answer is this: unless something changes with that AEW deal, don’t expect a WWE return before 2027. WWE toying with Shield nostalgia, even floating big-match scenarios or dangling names like Brock Lesnar in the mix, doesn’t change the paperwork.

For now, Moxley is locked in at AEW as a performer and a locker-room leader, which is exactly what he said he wanted. If the universe flips the table before 2027, we’ll all be shocked together. Until then, the reunion lives in highlight packages and daydreams.