Goodbye, Solomon. Hello, Sami!

I am a guy that wants to see my favorites succeed. I was a huge Sami Callihan during his run on the independents and I followed a few indies mostly because they regularly featured him. When he was signed by WWE, I had high hopes he would get the kind of push his longtime friend and rival Dean Ambrose did.

When he became Solomon Crowe, that never really happened. Admittedly he had a lot working against him. His girlfriend Jessicka Havok lost a contract offer because of comments posted on her social media years ago. As he started a comeback with Zahra Schreiber as his manager and storyline sister, her own social media history cost her a job with WWE. Crowe seemed to endlessly be thrown back to square one again and again.

Solomon Crowe debuted in February, but never got much of a push in NXT.
Image credit: WWE.com.

Earlier this year, CJ Parker left WWE because he realized he was never going to get a significant push. Already cemented as the NXT jobber, his future was bleak. He moved on, worked a bunch of indies as CJP and then signed a contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling where he is now working and training full time as Juice Robinson.

From all indications, Sami Callihan has followed his path. While he was a much bigger indie star than Juice ever was, his WWE career was stalled. It seemed likely he was edging towards the chopping block. So the smart move was to give up the steady paycheck of a NXT star barely on television and return to the indies. He might not make as much money even on the top of a lot of shows, but the exposure as an independent wrestler might help him either score a new WWE deal with a better push or a lucrative contract with New Japan or ROH.

Basically, Sami gambled on a brighter future outside WWE. And as Juice and Colt Cabana have proven, such a life is possible even if he never returns to the biggest wrestling company in the world.

On Saturday night, he made his return to the indies at AAW's Windy City Classic in Chicago. He interrupted former rival Eddie Kingston's title celebration to make his place back on top of the company he left with a huge sendoff in 2013.

Sami Callihan made a huge return at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago.
Image credit: AAW.

Welcome back, Sami.