AEW has delivered a successful first year after making their debut in the industry. TNT is reportedly ecstatic with the viewership and ratings for Dynamite since the television rights deal that they secured is very beneficial for them. Wrestlers also seem happier in AEW than WWE with the backstage environment praised by just about every performer.
Names like Jon Moxley, Brodie Lee and Chris Jericho have claimed the working experience to be more enjoyable due to the team atmosphere. However, quite a few talented AEW stars don’t have a frame of reference for how the WWE working experience went. Most AEW stars have either worked for WWE or at least had a match or two, but not all have wrestled for World Wrestling Entertainment. Without further ado, let's find out which of the rare wrestlers never worked a single match for WWE before joining AEW.
10 Pentagon Jr.
WWE has started to sign more talented stars from Mexico to expand the roster with more versatility and diversity. There were rumors of WWE having interest in Pentagon Jr., but the timing never worked out to book him.
Pentagon started to become a hot name when he was under contract to Lucha Underground. The progression of his career would see him joining Impact Wrestling and now AEW with zero matches in WWE.
9 Joey Janela
The hardcore wrestling style of Joey Janela got him noticed before he showed his all-around skills. Janela loved to get controversy building to add more buzz around his name even though it risked alienating WWE.
Things worked out for Janela as he was among the first few signings when AEW was announced. Janela has made it clear he doesn’t care about ever working for WWE as seen with his risks on the GCW shows marketed by him.
8 Jungle Boy
The youth of Jungle Boy makes him one of the top prospects for AEW as part of the Jurassic Express with Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt. Jungle Boy used to attend WWE shows with his father Luke Perry, who was an avid wrestling fan.
However, there is zero interest to work for WWE on Jungle Boy’s part. Various interviews have seen him revealing he doesn’t like WWE’s product and doesn’t believe he’d be happy there. AEW is the ideal home for Jungle Boy to move forward in his career.
7 Chuck Taylor
Chuck Taylor is one of the longest-tenured veterans on the AEW roster after over a decade on the independent circuit. A running joke from Taylor on PWG commentary referenced all his friends getting signed by WWE while he never even had a tryout match.
The tag team of Chuckie T and Trent as the Best Friends was a major addition to AEW in the early stages. Taylor received his first major contract in wrestling to wrestle full-time for a televised promotion since he never worked for WWE.
6 MJF
AEW signed MJF early to become one of the building blocks of the future due to his heel character getting heat at a young age. WWE seemed like a perfect fit for MJF, but he wanted to have more control of his own destiny.
MJF’s heel promo often takes things to a deeper level with the savage insults getting him heat. WWE likely would have limited his creative freedom to ruin the character that he created on his own to form an identity in the business.
5 Nick Jackson
The Young Bucks were brought in for various WWE scenes as extras with the most memorable one coming when they pretended to be Triple H and Shawn Michaels when The Miz and John Morrison feuded with DX. However, Nick never actually wrestled a match for WWE.
Matt did have a couple of matches as a local talent putting over Big Show and Chuck Palumbo. The younger age of Nick likely saw Matt as the more appealing option based on experience. Nick has yet to wrestle for WWE and doesn’t appear to desire it once AEW started.
4 Darby Allin
The rise of Darby Allin helped give AEW another star that can be legitimately successful in main event scenarios. Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho and Pac all had superb matches with Allin that helped him become a bigger star.
Darby has spoken out negatively about WWE in the past despite working for their former indie developmental promotion Evolve. The company often booked Allin against NXT stars, but he didn’t care one bit. WWE never booked Darby for any shows and he was more than happy to sign with AEW instead for more creative freedom.
3 Rey Fenix
Both Lucha Brothers have found success in the wrestling industry despite never working for WWE. Rey Fenix is viewed as the closest luchador to Rey Mysterio when it comes to being that good at a young age and taking the genre into the future.
WWE would have likely offered him a big contract for NXT, but he’s never been available to them. Fenix jumped from Lucha Underground to Impact Wrestling to AEW without having stops in WWE. AEW aggressively recruited Fenix and Pentagon Jr. for their tag team division.
2 Orange Cassidy
WWE likely would have laughed at the thought of signing Orange Cassidy given how little risks they like taking with their characters. Cassidy’s gimmick was trashed for a few years by people in the business believing he was hurting the industry.
AEW signing Orange and achieving huge success proved that he was a great asset and important free agent acquisition. WWE never cared about Cassidy enough to even bring him in as a local talent. Now, AEW is banking off his merchandise sales and the support from TNT executives.
1 Adam Page
WWE reportedly offered Adam Page a huge contract with the promise of an NXT main event run the last time he was a free agent. All members of The Elite agreed to stick together with the comfort of knowing AEW was coming.
Page turning down the WWE deal was the closest he came to working for WWE. The history of Hangman’s career saw his biggest work coming in Ring of Honor, New Japan and now AEW as arguably the most popular member of The Elite.