Sources: Dean Malenko Quits WWE After 18 Years as Backstage Agent

WWE road agent Dean Malenko has quit his role with the company, multiple sources have told Sports Illustrated.

WWE road agent Dean Malenko has quit his role with the company, multiple sources have told Sports Illustrated.

Malenko (real name Dean Simon, 58) had been employed by WWE as a backstage agent for the past 18 years, booking matches. (His tenure included a brief interruption within in the past five years.)

His greatest strengths as an agent were booking tag matches, finding ways to highlight shorter talent, and his knowledge of a technical style that is far different from the WWE brand of wrestling. Given his skillset, a natural landing spot for Malenko is the newly created All Elite Wrestling.

Known in the ring as “The Man of 1,000 Holds,” Malenko will forever be known as one of wrestling’s best technicians. He is also a second generation star trained by his father, the great Boris Malenko. He had runs in ECW and WCW, as well as WWE, and was even ranked number one in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s “PWI 500” in 1997.

Sports Illustrated has reached out to WWE for comment, and will continue to update the story as it progresses.