Ever since the demise of WCW in 2001, WWE has held the distinction of being the largest wrestling promotion in the world. The company offered great opportunities and financial benefits to the wrestlers, which made it the dream destination for almost every wrestler in the industry. However, All Elite Wrestling proved to be a worthy alternative for WWE when the company opened its doors for business in 2019. AEW offered equal pay and benefits to the wrestlers, similar to what was offered by WWE, which provoked wrestlers from WWE and other promotions to flock toward the new promotion.
However, after all the hype settled down, AEW also proved to be a company with the same limitations as WWE and was not able to properly book certain wrestlers. With that said, let's take a look at ten wrestlers who found out that the grass was not greener in AEW.
10 Bobby Fish
Bobby Fish was having an impactful run in NXT as part of The Undisputed Era faction alongside Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong. Together, the faction went on to achieve tremendous success in NXT, but when their contracts with WWE expired, Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly chose to jump ships to All Elite Wrestling, and Bobby Fish also followed suit.
However, Fish couldn't make the same impact in AEW as his partners Cole and O'Reilly and got released from the company in August 2022.
9 Lio Rush
Lio Rush is well-known among WWE fans for being a former NXT Cruiserweight Champion and for being the lour-mouthed on-screen manager of The Almighty Bobby Lashley. He got released by WWE as part of the pandemic budget cuts in April 2020 and went on to compete in the independent circuit before signing a contract with All Elite Wrestling in May 2021.
Being a former WWE superstar, fans expected AEW to use Rush more on television on their weekly shows, but he competed in only five matches throughout his time with the company and ended up leaving after his contract expired in February 2022.
8 Shawn Spears
Shawn Spears was an emerging star in WWE with his newfound popularity with his "Perfect 10" gimmick. But his main roster run turned out to be catastrophic as the company failed to use Spears in any significant storylines. He asked for his release from the company in February 2019, which WWE granted in three days. He then signed a contract with All Elite Wrestling and expected greener pastures in Tony Khan's promotion, but he couldn't get over as a singles performer.
He became part of MJF's Pinnacle faction between 2021 and 2022 and has recently reverted to his "Perfect 10" gimmick. He hasn't done anything significant with his AEW career so far, and we have to wait to see if his recent face turn would do him any favors.
7 Matt Sydal
Matt Sydal is well-known to WWE fans due to his time in the company under the name Evan Bourne. He proved to be one of the best high-flyers in the business and managed to impress the fans and WWE management, which made him a vital part of the mid-card and tag team division.
However, his WWE run came to an end in 2014 following a wellness policy violation and a motorcycle accident. He explored the indies and other promotions like ROH, NJPW, and PWG before signing with AEW in 2020. His run with AEW wasn't impactful, though, as he expected as he became a regular in the company's tertiary shows, Dark and Dark Elevation, which is more similar to what he was doing in his final WWE days.
6 Matt Hardy
Matt Hardy has competed across various promotions over the years, and he added All Elite Wrestling to his list when he signed with the company in 2020 following his exit from WWE. He left WWE due to creative differences and thought AEW would allow him to have more creative control over his bookings. He had a decent debut with his Broken gimmick, but his run has been pretty mixed so far.
He had a decent feud with Sammy Guevara but sustained a serious injury in the process. He then became the leader of the Hardy Family Office faction, but that also didn't increase his stock within the company, as he's barely hanging around there.
5 Jake Hager
Jake Hager made a name for himself in WWE as Jack Swagger, where he went on to become a 1-time World Heavyweight Champion. He was one of the first wrestlers to sign with All Elite Wrestling when the company opened up in 2019, and he made his debut as part of Chris Jericho's Inner Circle faction.
He's continued his alliance with Chris Jericho over the years and is now part of the Jericho Appreciation Society faction. His memorable matches with the company include his AEW World Championship match against Jon Moxley and the TNT title match against Cody Rhodes. Apart from that, Hager is doing nothing other than being part of Chris Jericho's faction.
4 Andrade El Idolo
Andrade El Idolo made quite the impact during his time with NXT, where he became a 1-time NXT Champion. His WWE main roster run had a brief successful phase, with him capturing the United States Championship. However, he lost his momentum as the weeks progressed, which eventually led to him leaving WWE in 2021.
He made his AEW debut the same year and expected to have a successful run in the company. However, his momentum started diminishing after a few weeks, and he got relegated to lackluster storylines. He is currently out of action due to an injury, but the thought of leaving the company for a potential return is still on his mind.
3 Miro
Known to WWE fans as Rusev, Miro signed with All Elite Wrestling in 2020 and aligned himself with Kip Sabian in his early days with the company. He gradually made his way up to the TNT Championship picture and eventually captured the title from Darby Allin.
Apart from his 140-day run with the TNT title, Miro didn't do much in his current AEW run and is having a strained relationship with the AEW management, and hasn't been on television since September 2022, which makes one wonder if a WWE return is on his mind.
2 Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes is one of the major factors behind the formation of All Elite Wrestling, as his contributions alongside Tony Khan, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega paved the way for AEW to open its doors for business in 2019.
Rhodes and The Elite served as Executive Vice Presidents as well as on-screen talents for the promotion, and things were going smoothly for them until Rhodes had a fallout with the other EVPs and Tony Khan, which made it hard for him to negotiate a new contract with the company. It resulted in Cody Rhodes and his wife Brandi leaving AEW and the former making his triumphant WWE return at WrestleMania 38.
1 CM Punk
After years of anticipation by the fans, CM Punk finally made his return to pro wrestling seven years after his WWE exit when he debuted in All Elite Wrestling on the inaugural episode of Rampage back in October 2021. The fans had high expectations from Punk in AEW, and things started out exactly the way they wanted as Punk slowly made his way up the ladder to capture the AEW World Championship.
He had two reigns with the AEW World title before he had a disastrous fallout with the EVPs, The Elite, which resulted in Punk shooting on them during the 2022 All Out PPV media scrum. Punk then got in a nasty backstage altercation with The Elite and got suspended by the company, and his future with AEW looks very uncertain.