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AEW has one of the most promising rosters amongst the many promotions that occupy the world of professional wrestling. The acquisition of the likes of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Ruby Soho and Christian Cage has boosted the prestige of an already hardworking roster.
Many of the company's fastest rising stars are their youngest, including the likes of Jungle Boy and MJF, who are 25 or under. Veterans, too, are provided space on weekly television. Even the 62-year-old Sting is a regular feature.
However, most professional wrestlers begin from obscurity and earn their dues by wrestling in front of nominal spectators. Their first major appearances in larger promotions often take place in squash matches, where they are used as enhancement talents to put over prominent stars.
Most AEW stars have endured this routine, and a number of them have appeared on WWE television in short, losing efforts to WWE Superstars.
Here is a list of five such wrestlers who appeared in Vince McMahon's promotion as enhancement talents but are now presented in All Elite Wrestling as featured stars.
#5 AEW Head of Talent Relations Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels enjoys a notable on-screen role in AEW and simultaneously partakes in a crucial off-screen duty as the Head of Talent Relations. A veteran of the industry, there are few major promotions in the world where The Fallen Angel has dared not to tread and WWE is no exception to the rule.
He first joined Vince McMahon's promotion in 1998 and was sent to train under Dory Funk Jr. Meanwhile, he was perennially used as an enhancement talent on WWE television. The most well-known of his appearances was as one half of the early 2000s version of Los Conquistadores.
After his stint with the company, Daniels had a likewise brief and unsatisfying stint with a dying WCW, before he made it big on the indie circuit.
#4 Peter Avalon
Peter Avalon is not what fans consider a star in AEW, as he loses most of his matches. The resident librarian of All Elite Wrestling has constantly found himself at the nadir of the company's pecking order and is used to put over other talents. However, he is at least a contracted wrestler at this point in his career.
Previously, Avalon was used as an enhancement talent in WWE. In a one-off appearance, he entered the squared circle under the ring name Adam James. Teaming up with fellow enhancement talent Josh Carr, they quickly lost to the destructive Bludgeon Brothers.
#3 AEW star Big Swole
Big Swole was virtually unknown before her signing with AEW, but she has gradually evolved into an important part of the company's burgeoning women's division. With 15 wins and 4 losses in 2021, Swole's stock is on the rise. However, she has already had a couple of WWE appearances under her belt.
Swole, as Aerial Monroe, once faced Nia Jax on Monday Night RAW. It was in August 2016, and Jax was being pushed as a monstrous performer. Monroe lost to The Irresistible Force in a one-sided encounter.
However, WWE must have been impressed by her performance and the result was her appearance in the 2018 Mae Young Classic where she lost in the first round.
#2 AEW Women's Champion Britt Baker
Britt Baker's incredible journey to an AEW Women's Championship victory has seen her rise from the independent circuit to become All Elite Wrestling's first contracted female wrestler.
Her dentist gimmick is anything but phony, as she is a practicing dentist. She has won over fans and has heightened her confidence to the point where she main evented a show also starring Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega.
Even Baker once worked as an enhancement talent in WWE. Similar to Big Swole, she faced and suffered an immediate loss to Nia Jax on an episode of RAW. Vince McMahon's promotion only became interested in her when she began stunning spectators in AEW, with higher-ups asking then-NXT star Adam Cole if his girlfriend was available for a WWE contract.
#1 The Young Bucks
Matt and Nick Jackson are the greatest loudmouths in professional wrestling today. Amazingly, they are simultaneously one of the best tag teams on the planet. Obnoxious in their attire, antics and verbose, they manage to make up for it in their often extraordinary matches.
Prominent in AEW as onscreen talents and offscreen Executive Vice President and surveying social media for chances to further their verbose, they are as busy as it gets.
Even The Young Bucks once wrestled in WWE as enhancement talents. In a memorable appearance, the real-life brothers copied the mannerisms of Triple H and Shawn Michaels before being destroyed by The Miz and John Morrison.
Matt Jackson has also appeared a couple of times as an enhancement talent in WWE, losing to the likes of Chuck Palumbo and The Big Show.
