One of the stranger criticisms of the rising promotion All Elite Wrestling is how many former WWE stars have signed with the company. After all, for decades World Wrestling Entertainment has been the only game in town, so pretty much everyone has worked for them — and that doesn’t just include the big stars like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Ruby Soho, and more.

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Even some of AEW’s talent who aren’t known for wrestling for WWE have worked with the company. Some were actually signed to WWE, while others worked squash matches or non-wrestling roles in talking segments. Let’s take a look at 10 of these AEW stars in WWE, and what they looked like back then.

10 Ricky Starks

Ricky Starks and Ryback

The 2010s saw Team Taz member “Absolute” Ricky Starks show up in WWE on multiple occasions, working squash matches in 2012, 2016, and 2018 to lose against Jinder Mahal, Enzo and Big Cass, The Revival, and Kane.

But one of his most prominent appearances was in a backstage segment where he got hassled by the newly heel Ryback at catering. In this segment, Ryback gets Stark up against the wall and slaps him across the face with a handful of potato salad.

9 Brian Cage

Brian Cage in Florida Championship Wrestling

Absurdly jacked, surprisingly agile, and known for his runs in Lucha Underground and Impact Wrestling before debuting in AEW in 2020, Brian Cage actually spent over a year in the late 2000s in WWE’s developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling.

There, he worked under the name Kris Logan, and eventually developed a Wolverine-inspired gimmick called Dark Claw before departing WWE in 2009 and then spending the 2010s building a reputation for himself on the indie scene.

8 Dr. Britt Baker, DMD

Britt Baker vs. Shayna Baszler in NXT

AEW’s Britt Baker accidentally made a surprise appearance at NXT TakeOver: War Games in 2019 when she was caught on screen reacting to real-life boyfriend Adam Cole’s ridiculous bump from the top of the cage, at which point commentary identified her by name. But that wasn’t her only appearance in WWE.

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In 2016, Baker was the local talent subjected to a squash match at the hands of Nia Jax when Raw came to Pittsburgh. Two years later, Baker would be quickly taken out by Shayna Baszler in less than 90 seconds on NXT.

7 Kris Statlander

Kris Statlander and Elektra Lopez in WWE

Days after winning the Women’s Tag Championship in 2019, The IIconics defended the belts against “The Brooklyn Belles,” Karissa and Kristen, local talents who were quickly taken out by the WWE stars.

After a couple of years, both Belles would be featured players on pro wrestling television. Karissa would become NXT’s Elektra Lopez, but more relevantly Kristen would grace fans’ TV screen as “The Galaxy’s Greatest Alien,” Kris Statlander, in AEW.

6 Leva Bates

Leva Bates as Blue Pants in WWE

Leva Bates’ NXT stint was so long ago that it feels like many fans might not even remember it. Introduced as “Blue Pants” by Big Cass, Bates was simply supposed to be an easy-to-beat jobber for the recently debuted Carmella.

Despite Bates being booked to lose the match, the crowd got behind Blue Pants, turning the Kitty Pryde cosplaying wrestler into a cult hero, albeit for a brief period from 2014 to 2015. Since then, Bates has been a frequent minor figure on AEW, working a gimmick as a pro wrestling librarian.

5 Scorpio Sky

Scorpio Sky and Daniel Bryan in WWE

Before debuting in AEW in 2019, Scorpio Sky had a number of spots on pro wrestling TV, including a short run in Impact Wrestling as Mason Andrews and a stint in MTV’s short-lived Wrestling Society X.

But in 2012, Sky was prominently featured in WWE’s backstage anger management segments where he joined Kane and Daniel Bryan of Team Hell No as Harold, a fellow patient in the group that ended up being the butt of a number of jokes.

4 MJF

MJF and Samoa Joe in WWE

It’s not uncommon for indie talent to get one-off gigs for WWE playing security guards during brawls, considering they’re trained to convincingly sell offense once the stars decide to turn their attention to the rent-a-cops. MJF in particular had a notable spot as a security guard at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, accompanying Samoa Joe to the ring only to be shoved by the champ.

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When Samoa Joe was (briefly) released by WWE in 2021, fans expected Joe to sign with AEW, and started sharing the gif of Joe bullying MJF. In response, MJF demanded that people stop sharing it.

3 Max Caster

Sami Zayn and Max Caster in WWE

After debuting on AEW Dark in 2020, Max Caster found his niche teaming with Anthony Bowens as The Acclaimed, marking one of the first home-grown tag teams in the relatively new promotion.

Two years prior, however, Caster appeared in WWE, portraying one of Bobby Lashley’s “sisters” in a regrettable promo headed by Sami Zayn in his forgettable feud with the future WWE Champion that culminated with a loss for Zayn at Money in the Bank 2018.

2 Christopher Daniels

Christopher Daniels in WWE

While Christopher Daniels is best associated with Impact Wrestling, where he’s a four-time X Division Champion and eight-time Tag Team Champion, he actually had a stint with WWE during the Attitude Era.

Signed to a developmental contract, Daniels wrestled on minor shows Shotgun Saturday Night and Jakked. He never won a match, but Daniels ended up getting a couple of shots at the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship, taking on Taka Michinoku and Jerry Lynn in losing efforts.

1 The Young Bucks

The Miz, John Morrison, and The Young Bucks in WWE

Indie darlings turned top stars of AEW’s tag team division, The Young Bucks were relentlessly pursued to sign with WWE in the late 2010s, and their rejection in favor of founding AEW is certainly one of the bigger “what could have beens” as far as WWE is concerned.

But the Jackson Brothers did actually make an onscreen appearance in WWE, dressing as Triple H and Shawn Michaels for a segment for ECW on Sci Fi in 2008, during which they were beaten up by The Miz and John Morrison.