Since its launch in 2019, All Elite Wrestling has earned a reputation for putting on quality wrestling matches featuring a sizeable roster of stars from the indie scene, Japan, WWE and even Impact Wrestling, some of whom aren’t exclusively signed to the company.
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As a result, even in such a short period there are a number of stars whose brief appearances for AEW are easy to forget, even a couple of years later. So let’s take a look at some notable wrestlers who disappeared from memory either because they wrestled a single match for the company, or randomly showed up in a battle royal, among others.
10 Diamond Dallas Page
After some WWE appearances in the mid-2010s, WCW legend Diamond Dallas Page aligned with Cody Rhodes, accompanying him to the ring at All In and showing up in AEW as an associate of Cody’s Nightmare Family.
DDP notably presented the Dynamite Diamond Ring to an unappreciative MJF and bequeathed the Diamond Cutter finisher to QT Marshall, but he wrestled a match, too. It was on the 2020 Bash At The Beach episode of Dynamite where DDP teamed with Marshall and Dustin Rhodes against MJF, The Butcher, and The Blade.
9 Bea Priestley
Nicknamed “Top Gaijin”, English wrestler Bea Priestley has had the most success in Japan, where she captured the top title of World Wonder Ring Stardom, the World of Stardom Championship.
She ended up signing to AEW in 2019, debuting at Fight for the Fallen and feuding with Britt Baker. She actually declared her intention to challenge for the Women’s World Title in spring of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic kept her out of the country and she was eventually released from AEW five months later.
8 Glacier
AEW’s early Casino Battle Royales were chock full of one-off guests, especially in the initial outing at the inaugural PPV, Double or Nothing in 2019. Amid wrestlers like Hangman Page, Joey Janela, and MJF was a surprising appearance by a WCW legend, Glacier.
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Best known for having an unfairly maligned Sub Zero-esque gimmick in WCW, Glacier’s appearance in the Casino Battle Royale would be brief as he’d get eliminated by MJF. It was great, but because lots of wrestlers showed up in these matches, it’s easy to forget.
7 ODB
Save for a stint in Ohio Valley Wrestling that didn’t translate to a WWE main roster call-up, four-time TNA Knockouts Champion ODB is one of those few Impact stars who isn’t really known for wrestling with any other major American promotion -- so much that it’s even easy to forget that she showed up in AEW.
Her only AEW appearance was in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out 2019, where she got eliminated by Britt Baker. ODB hasn’t resurfaced in AEW, but she has recently returned to Impact Wrestling.
6 Jamie Hayter
Hailing from the UK, Jamie Hayer is known for wrestling in promotions like Stardom, Pro Wrestling EVE, and RevPro, but she had a couple of matches in AEW in 2019 as well, including a loss to Britt Baker on the fourth episode of Dynamite, and teaming with Emi Sakura to get a win over Riho and Shanna two weeks later.
She hasn’t shown up on AEW since, but would go on to become a Goddesses of Stardom (tag team) champion with the aforementioned Bea Priestley.
5 Laredo Kid
One of the earliest feuds in AEW was between The Young Bucks and The Lucha Bros, who battled for the AAA Tag Team Titles over the summer of 2019 because AEW hadn’t established their own belts yet.
They put on a number of awesome matches, including a six-man tag at Fyter Fest where Kenny Omega and The Bucks took on the brothers Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix, aided by another AAA star, Laredo Kid. Laredo did a great job but hasn’t showed up in AEW since, although he did unsuccessfully challenge Omega for the AAA Mega Championship at Triplemania in 2020.
4 Warhorse
Cody Rhodes’ initial run with the TNT Title was great thanks to Rhodes’ weekly open challenges, during which there were a number of surprise challengers. Most notably was Eddie Kingston, whose performance earned him a spot in the company, but there was also Warhorse, a fun indie wrestler with a heavy metal gimmick.
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Cody, of course, got the win, and Warhorse’s one-off appearance would ultimately be overshadowed by that of Kingston, who it can be argued was the most successful of the challengers, just by virtue of getting signed.
3 Mercedes Martinez
Mercedes Martinez is probably best known to mainstream wrestling fans for her work in WWE, where she performs on NXT and took part in both of the Mae Young Classic tournaments.
But she also showed up in 2019’s All Out, appearing as the Joker (final entrant) in the women’s Casino Battle Royale. Martinez’s AEW run didn’t stop there, however, as she had a tag match on an early episode of Dark before ultimately signing a contract with WWE in 2020.
2 Kylie Rae
One of the first women announced to be part of AEW, Kylie Rae might also be the first wrestler the company ever released. With a pure sunny babyface gimmick comparable to WWE’s Bayley, Kylie Rae debuted at 2019’s Double or Nothing in a four-way match, but had to be replaced on the Fyter Fest card a month later.
Soon after, it was revealed that Rae asked for her release from the company, albeit under friendly terms. Kyle Rae would later wrestle in Impact for about a year before leaving that company, too, and announcing her retirement.
1 Jeff Cobb
Known for his runs in Lucha Underground (as Matanza Cueto) as well as the indies and New Japan, Jeff Cobb made a surprise appearance on a February 2020 episode of Dynamite, establishing himself as an ally of the Inner Circle and staging an attack on Jon Moxley.
This would lead to a singles match between Cobb and Moxley the following week, with Mox coming out on top. While some fans hoped this would lead to Jeff Cobb on their TVs every week, for some reason Cobb opted not to sign with AEW, ultimately sticking with New Japan.
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