Most important 'former WWE wrestler' signing for AEW

[gmoney]

I feel AEW would be in the exact same place without Cope. Baffling suggestion. 

[Carbomb]

I did say "honourable mention". And it was more from a perspective of "lifers can jump". And it was in a post about how cases can be made for a number of names depending on the metrics one uses.

[Supremo]

It’s not even that Bryan Danielson jumped ship whilst at the top of WWE, having only just main evented Wrestlemania. It’s also in how happy he professed to being in WWE - continuing to talk so positively about working there even after he’d made the jump to AEW. Even now, he never speaks negatively about his time there.

Almost everyone else was either bitter (Mercedes, Mox), underutilised (Swerve, Toni Storm) or had something to prove (Jericho, Cody). That’s what makes Danielson’s jump the ultimate stamp of approval. The best wrestler of all time, at the top of his game, happy and comfortable in WWE and yet he still jumped.

It also can’t be overstated how much goodwill he brought with him. One of the rare few wrestlers who got over organically and existed as this beacon of happiness and joy at a time when WWE was anything but. As a company, they existed to primarily antoginse and troll their own audience, and yet against all logic and sense they had this one rare unicorn of a man who felt like a normal, lovely, smart bloke who just so happened to be fucking brilliant at pro-wrestling. My wife rightly thinks pro-wrestling is the dumbest thing of all time. She still knows and likes Daniel Bryan.

In many ways there’s a real sense of the New Level being the Tag Team version of Bryan Danielson. To get so over and be so loved in WWE during the 2010s is nothing short of miraculous. If anything, you’d offer them 150% of their salary just to ensure they stay. To be that successful when so much was going against them, I’d be terrified of what they might achieve when the system is actually geared towards helping them succeed. 

Edited September 1 by Supremo

[gmoney]

You're going to have to break down what you mean my honourable mention in this context. I can't see any arguement for him. A WWE lifer jumping is notable the first time, but after that you need something else to consider, which he does not at all. 

In reply to @Carbomb

Edited September 1 by gmoney

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, gmoney said:

You're going to have to break down what you mean my honourable mention in this context. I can't see any arguement for him. A WWE lifer jumping is notable the first time, but after that you need something else to consider, which he does not at all. 

In reply to @Carbomb

That's fair. The reason I brought up "honourable mentions" was that I was thinking more in terms of ranking importance, rather than any single guy. There's no point in having any honourable mentions with the latter, as it's a pretty absolute choice.

My main thinking was that Cope was a "one club guy", for nearly three decades (I understand he had an interview segment when he was retired?) - only big promotion he'd been in was WWF/E, and he'd never gone to WCW or TNA. Jericho and Wight had been in WCW (and ECW in Y2J's case), and CM Punk had been in TNA (albeit when it was a much smaller promotion). And whilst Jericho had never gone to any major promotions after joining WWF/E, he did have other focuses, so his tenure didn't seem so "unshakeable", so to speak. 

Cope/Edge, on the other hand, seemed like he was never, ever going to go anywhere else, especially near the end of his career.

Like I say, this is only for an honourable mention in a ranking. Definitely would have him nowhere near "most important".

[RedTwoster]

15 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Cope/Edge, on the other hand, seemed like he was never, ever going to go anywhere else, especially near the end of his career.

 

The most remarkable thing about Copeland is that he's the only example that comes to mind of an active AEW wrestler who hasn't been able to shed his WWE legacy. No one says Moxley/Ambrose, FTR/The Revival, Mercedes/Sasha or Danielson/Daniel Bryan - they managed to shake off their previous identities, but people - myself included - frequently slip into calling Copeland 'Edge' again. I've enjoyed his AEW run, particularly his feud with Christian - but he's really struggled to redefine himself in a way that I don't think is true of anyone else. Even Paul Wight - who I do find myself referring to as "Big Show" every now and again - has managed to move past his former WWE identity; although he does have the advantage of doing so as an announcer. 

[Carbomb]

2 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

The most remarkable thing about Copeland is that he's the only example that comes to mind of an active AEW wrestler who hasn't been able to shed his WWE legacy. No one says Moxley/Ambrose, FTR/The Revival, Mercedes/Sasha or Danielson/Daniel Bryan - they managed to shake off their previous identities, but people - myself included - frequently slip into calling Copeland 'Edge' again. I've enjoyed his AEW run, particularly his feud with Christian - but he's really struggled to redefine himself in a way that I don't think is true of anyone else. Even Paul Wight - who I do find myself referring to as "Big Show" every now and again - has managed to move past his former WWE identity; although he does have the advantage of doing so as an announcer. 

That's interesting; I've not really kept up, so it's intriguing to know what the feeling is "on the ground", so to speak. But it does tie in to what I was asserting: there are others, but Edge/Cope is probably the most "dyed-in-the-wool" WWE guy who's jumped to AEW so far, I think. The only more surprising jumps in terms of that that I could think of would be Triple H or Randy Orton, I think.

(When he first signed for AEW, I did wonder what sort of copyright workaround name they'd come up with - first thing my brain did was fuse his first name with his gimmick name, and then realised the name "Adge" would only work in the southwest of England.)

[BrodyGraham]

If developmental counts, it's Kenny Omega. The conditions for AEW to exist simply aren't there without Kenny, he's been the backbone of the company since it's inception and I'd argue we don't get Kenny as he is without his miserable time in Deep South.

If it doesn't, Danielson for much the same reasons in terms of laying the ground even further back than Kenny.

[LaGoosh]

3 hours ago, BrodyGraham said:

If developmental counts

I don't think it does. 

[RedTwoster]

On 9/1/2026 at 9:25 AM, RedTwoster said:

I'm going to exclude ex-developmental wrestlers from this - people who did not wrestle on the main roster - otherwise Kenny Omega is technically eligible.

@BrodyGraham - it doesn’t, main roster only. 

[TheScarlettChad]

Mox and Jericho. Followed by Punk. Those three really solidified AEW as an actual competitor to WWE and not TNA 2.0. 

So those are my picks.