The career of a wrestler after WWE can be difficult for many reasons. WWE is clearly the biggest promotion in the world. Every wrestler on the roster makes a living from lower wages in NXT to usually six figures and up for anyone on the main roster. The bigger stars will get over a million dollars each year depending on what they accomplish. This is extremely tough to accomplish after leaving WWE. Some wrestlers thrive like Cody Rhodes and make more money than ever, but that is an extremely unique circumstance. Everyone else just wants to land a rare contract with another wrestling product on television.

Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor have been the second and third biggest promotions outside of WWE in North America. Both companies have had their fair share of ups and downs, but things are currently going well for each. Impact is rebranding under new management with positive reviews in terms of show quality and viewership for the first time in many years. ROH is drawing their best crowds in company history while riding the wave of momentum of working with New Japan and having members of the Bullet Club under contract. We will look at some of the former WWE stars quietly continuing their careers in other promotions. These are ten former WWE stars you didn’t know Impact employed along with five in ROH.

15 Impact: Rich Swann

The controversial end to Rich Swann’s WWE career put his future in question. WWE suspended Swann after he was charged with battery and false imprisonment of his wife Su Yung. The charges were dropped, and Yung claimed the accusations of other parties were not true. However, it was still a tough situation for WWE to make a decision on. Swann remained on the sideline until both sides agreed it would be best to release him.

There was a backlash against Swann on the independent circuit leading to him canceling bookings during WrestleMania weekend. Swann changed his mind and decided to wrestle on a handful of shows. Impact Wrestling decided to offer him an opportunity with them recently. Swann will make his official Impact debut at some point in June.

Impact management revealed that Yung talked them into hiring him after sharing her side of the story. Swann’s young age and talent tempted them to give him a shot. Time will tell if it turns out to be a good decision for the company. They need to take some risks and hit home runs with their younger talent acquisitions. Most fans likely didn’t realize it but Swann is now part of the Impact roster.

14 Impact: Jimmy Jacobs

Former WWE writer Jimmy Jacobs became a controversial figure when he was fired from the company. Jacobs was reported to receive heat for taking pictures with his friends during the Bullet Club invasion. Vince McMahon made the call to get rid of him. Jacobs had a great reputation with wrestlers. Considering he had a successful independent wrestling career, he worked with a lot of the WWE talent in the past and knew what was needed to get over in big segments.

A podcast interview with Chris Jericho saw him reveal that he was unhappy with his place in WWE. Writers are given minimal credit for their effort for the good things with all the blame whenever something goes wrong. Jacobs is also a natural performer which made it tough for him to have to write for other talents every week.

The post-WWE career of Jacobs has seen him get the best of both worlds in Impact Wrestling. Jacobs is the manager of Kongo Kong on the television show. However, he also contributes backstage as a member of the creative team. Both the mind and the charisma of Jacobs are both in play as Impact hopes he helps improve their standing.

13 ROH: Tenille Dashwood

The talented Tenille Dashwood has proved that she is a force to be reckon with in the wrestling business. Most fans remember her for her time in WWE as Emma. A highly successful run in NXT showed just how much talent she possessed. However, Emma failed to gain any momentum on the main roster. Vince McMahon was reportedly not a fan leading to all her various characters falling apart.

The firing of Dashwood was somewhat of a surprise given her talent, but many expected it to happen sooner or later given the lack of a role on WWE television. Unlike many other ladies leaving WWE, Dashwood didn’t want to put all her eggs in other career baskets. Her love of wrestling saw her taking bookings right away to fill her schedule after her no-compete clause ended.

Dashwood has been in many independent promotions, but her biggest success has come in Ring of Honor. The timing of her return to the free agent market coincided with ROH moving forward with their Women of Honor division. Dashwood is on most of their tours going forward and is reportedly in contract talks with ROH about signing for the long-term. WWE’s loss is truly ROH’s gain in this scenario.

12 Impact: Matt Sydal

Matt Sydal has been among the most talented wrestlers in the world over the past 15 years. Many of the innovative moves of Sydal endeared him to fans all over the world. It was paid off when WWE signed him over a decade ago when giving him the name of Evan Bourne. The shooting star press maneuver by Bourne was one of the prettiest moves in wrestling which helped him become a popular mid-carder.

Air Boom became the top tag team in WWE when Bourne teamed with Kofi Kingston. Unfortunately, their reign at the top of the division ended when Bourne was suspended for violating the Wellness Policy. He tried using an artificial marijuana alternative to avoid getting fined. It ended up getting him suspended twice. Bourne suffered an injury during a suspension and never returned.

Sydal has continued wrestling in Ring of Honor, New Japan and PWG before finding a new home. Impact Wrestling signed him after a falling out with New Japan. The company does see something special in Sydal as he has held multiple important titles in the company. Sydal appears to be one of the wrestlers that Impact wants to build around and it is a good choice.

11 Impact: Scott Steiner

Impact Wrestling used to have a negative reputation for constantly offering big contracts to older wrestlers in the industry. Former WWE stars were consistently coming in and out of the company as the younger stars would be overlooked. It always failed Impact as they never had their own identity as they prioritized stars known for other promotions as their biggest stars.

Scott Steiner is arguably the only person to fit that mold today. Unlike some of the other poor signings, Steiner has something to offer the current fan base given his own reputation. Steiner has become relatively comedic for his absurd promos through the years. Impact has played into his persona by allowing him to cut ridiculous promos for entertainment value.

The presence of Steiner is in a tag team with Eli Drake. This heel combination won the Impact Tag Team Championship at Redemption, but Steiner’s stay in the promotion is not scheduled to be long term. We will likely only see Big Poppa Pump employed with Impact for about a month or two. If you’re a fan of Steiner, you better enjoy him now while he is still working for Impact. However, WWE and Steiner have no interest in each other, so Steiner will always have the availability to be part of Impact as long as they want him.

10 ROH: Bully Ray

The recent Hall of Fame induction of the Dudley Boyz implied that both men were retired from in-ring competition. D-Von hung up his boots over a year ago when he decided to take a job as a producer for WWE. The stability of making a living in the business he lives without taking bumps was D-Von’s ideal scenario. Bubba Ray aka Bully Ray chose to continue wrestling after the WWE deal ended.

Ring of Honor signed Bully over a year ago to become a familiar face for new fans to see. A long storyline saw Bully have a big retirement sendoff in December of 2017 at Final Battle. Bully ran the angle that he was leaving the business and delivered multiple speeches on his retirement tour. ROH continued to use him as the enforcer authority figure making matches as a face figure.

However, Bully recently turned heel and made his return to the ring. Another run as the heel character he played in Impact is now in ROH seeing him bullying the younger wrestlers on the roster. Bully cuts long promos running down the current generation of wrestlers on every show. It has not been well received, but it appears to be the plan for the rest of the year as Bully is full-time with ROH.

9 Impact: Katarina Waters

The stunning Katarina Waters has been involved in televised wrestling products for over a decade now. Many fans will remember her for her WWE career under the name of Katie Lea Burchill. Controversial plans for her to have an intimate relationship with her on-screen brother Paul Burchill were bailed on after the negative reception to teases of it. She had good matches in the women’s division, but WWE never pushed her as a true title contender.

The WWE stint ended sooner than expected. She landed in Impact Wrestling under the name of Winter during the regime of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. This was a unique character with mystery and intrigue behind it. Winter teamed with Angelina Love and won multiple titles in the company. However, things would fall apart as with most talents and TNA at the time.

Under the name of Katarina Waters, she has continued wrestling on the independent circuit as well as working on her side projects acting and directing. Impact recently brought her back for a new run as the girlfriend of Grado. The company plans to make her a part of the knockouts division in addition to the romance story on the character side of things.

8 Impact: Sami Callihan

It is tough to believe former NXT talent Solomon Crowe is a top name for a wrestling promotion on television, but it has happened. WWE signed him due to his past independent wrestling success as Sami Callihan. Impressive matches with Kevin Owens, Davey Richards, Adam Cole and other top names at the time got him noticed by WWE. He portrayed Crowe in NXT for quite some time to minimal success.

Crowe often would lose to opponents on NXT television and failed to connect whenever he did get any time to show his character. A long stint of irrelevance led to him requesting a release from WWE. Crowe got his wish and returned to the independent circuit. Schedules with PWG, Evolve, AAW and many others built his name back up as Callihan.

Impact Wrestling was impressed and offered him an opportunity with the company. Callihan has been involved in controversial segments, but it seems to work out in his favor. He is now a top player for the company and a fixture in the upper card moving forward. Impact management has revealed that they want to build around him as one of the faces of the franchise as they try to build their own new stars.

7 ROH: Trent

The WWE career of Trent Barreta is one that most fans have forgotten about. Despite having a world of talent, Barreta rarely received television time. His Dudebusters tag team with Caylen Croft failed to make an impact as they did nothing of note. Management didn’t give them much of a chance and Trent wanted to prove his worth when getting released from WWE.

Many fans were surprised to see Trent get booked by PWG. He shocked them all with great performances that made other promotions realize he could be a big player for them. The success in PWG helped him get a spot in New Japan when the company was looking for an American wrestler to team with Rocky Romero in Roppongi Vice. Both guys worked well together and had a great run until it was decided to split up for Trent to get a singles push.

The relationship between NJPW and Ring of Honor sees talent work for both companies. Trent became one of the bigger stars from New Japan to work a lot of dates in ROH teaming with both of his partners Romero and Chuck Taylor. An injury currently has him sidelined, but Trent is a fixture in NJPW and ROH moving forward.

6 Impact: James Ellsworth

James Ellsworth become one of the most shocking success stories in wrestling history. There have been countless local wrestlers selected by WWE to serve as an enhancement talents through the years. Ellsworth was chosen without a second thought about his skills when WWE just needed a professional able to take a beating from Braun Strowman. The facial expressions and fear of Ellsworth was so impressive it left an impact on fans and Vince McMahon.

Ellsworth continued making appearances for WWE before somehow getting involved in a WWE Championship feud between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose. The hard work of Ellsworth wrestling for years despite everything working against him finally paid off when he signed a WWE contract. Life changed dramatically with him traveling the world, performing on national television every week and having his own t-shirt.

Unfortunately, his dream came to an end when WWE released him towards the end of 2017. Ellsworth has shown that he wants to continue his career by appearing in multiple independent promotions. Impact recently brought him in for a segment and he is rumored to be signing for the long term. The goal of Impact to have characters of all different kinds, including comedy which Ellsworth has become great at.

5 Impact: Tommy Dreamer

The career of Tommy Dreamer has seen him appear in just about every promotion in his career. Dreamer has had a match in WWE, NXT, ROH and Impact Wrestling each over the past few years. The best days of Dreamer’s career as an in-ring performer are clearly over, but he is one of the most respected men in the industry. Many promotions bring him in for his knowledge to help their promotion and the younger wrestlers.

Dreamer has started appearing in Impact Wrestling in recent months. He is part of the blood rivalry between Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan. The current story sees Dreamer trying to talk Edwards out of his hatred for Callihan due to living the same regretful journey during his feud with Raven in ECW. Dreamer is trying to help both wrestlers with his presence in the storyline on-screen and backstage.

Impact has been employing Dreamer as a producer behind the scenes. The knowledge of Dreamer is meant to enhance the television product while teaching new things to the wrestlers trying to progress to the next level. Dreamer still runs his own House of Hardcore school, but Impact is trying to utilize his skills in the most productive way.

4 ROH: Brandi Rhodes

Everyone talks about Cody Rhodes leaving a good job in WWE to make it on his own, but his wife Brandi Rhodes did the exact same thing. The stunning Brandi initially signed with WWE as a talent when it came to the in-ring and storytelling aspect of professional wrestling. However, she was only ever on television as a ring announcer. While she was good at the role, Brandi clearly wanted to do more leading to her requesting her release from WWE with Cody.

The wrestling career of Brandi has not only continued but started in certain ways. We have seen her wrestle matches for the first time with appearances in Impact Wrestling, Stardom and various independent promotions. Ring of Honor has become her home promotion as part of the Women of Honor division. In addition to the matches, Brandi often accompanies Cody to the ring as her manager.

A recent injury has her on the shelf. Brandi plans to make a comeback to the ring when she is cleared despite success in other fields. Her role on the WAGS: Atlanta reality show is giving her more of an audience. Factor in her various modeling and acting gigs, and she certainly doesn’t have to wrestle. However, she loves it meaning Brandi will be involved in ROH for the foreseeable future.

3 Impact: Don Callis

One of the biggest moves for Impact Wrestling came when they signed someone that was outside of the business for over a decade. Don Callis was in the wrestling business during the 90s after coming up in the Canadian wrestling scene with Lance Storm and Chris Jericho. WWE signed him for a managing role as The Jackyl with the Truth Commission and the Oddities at various points.

Callis also contributed at the commentary table and on the creative team. WWE couldn’t figure out which role they wanted him in leading to his departure. Callis achieved the most of his success at the time in ECW as a heel personality and a color commentator. Jericho brought him back into the game after the long absence a few years ago to host a podcast with Lance Storm.

This led to Kenny Omega reaching out Callis to be the color commentator for New Japan’s English broadcasts. The return to prominence saw Callis and Scott D’Amore offered the roles running creative for Impact Wrestling. Callis is now playing a huge role in making the big decisions for the future of Impact going forward. A lot of positive changes has been made in the short time indicating Callis and D’Amore are the best people at this job for the company in quite some time.

2 Impact: Johnny Impact

The career of John Morrison was impressive in WWE. Success was found in both the tag team and singles division. Morrison had a lot of natural talent that allowed him to move around the ring as smoothly as anyone else in the company. However, he never received a legitimate main event spot despite doing well in the rare main event matches with John Cena, Sheamus and The Miz.

It led to Morrison making a decision to leave WWE to try his own projects. Morrison wanted to get into the acting world along with financing and producing his own film Boone the Bounty Hunter. The wrestling career continued when Lucha Underground signed him to be the face of their television product as Johnny Mundo. He did a great job with great matches bringing early attention to the show.

Impact Wrestling started a working a relationship with Lucha Underground leading to talent working for both promotions. Under the name of Johnny Impact, he made his way to Impact in a major role. Johnny is expected to continue working for both promotions moving forward. His wife Taya Valkyrie is also a major part of the knockouts division as the couple hopes to make Impact one of their home promotions.

1 ROH: Joey Mercury

An under the radar recent firing in WWE saw Joey Mercury get released in 2017. The wrestling career of Mercury was highly respected, and it led him to other roles in the industry. WWE hired him as a producer backstage helping put together matches. Most wrestling fans will remember his role in J and J Security with Jamie Noble as the lackeys of Seth Rollins.

Mercury continued to work backstage after his on-screen character days ended. However, a surprising move saw WWE get rid of him with no reported reason why. Mercury returned to the independent circuit attempting to start his wrestling career back up again. Multiple promotions have booked him, and he still plans to continue working in the squared circle. A unique opportunity came up when Ring of Honor reached out to bring Mercury in for a behind the scenes job.

Mercury is one of the head trainers for ROH. The dojo school is trying to help new trainees in the industry. The knowledge of Mercury could see new talents learn from him and get roles on ROH’s product. Mercury is also rumored to be one of the producers for ROH’s television and PPV shows. As ROH grows, they will need capable talent behind the scenes and Mercury was hired for that reason.