5 AEW wrestlers who successfully returned to old gimmicks

AEW is a place where talents young and old can reinvent themselves as they see fit. For wrestlers who rose through the indie ranks, there are opportunities to refine their characters of yesteryear and become top stars in the process. Veteran talents are similarly able to arrive under new gimmicks, or are free to return to their old ones.

For some grizzled veterans on AEW's roster, everything old is new again, as we've seen several successful returns to the former personas they once left behind.

A few All Elite wrestlers have resurrected their former indie personas, with some even reverting to past gimmicks fans loved seeing in Impact or, incredibly, WCW. Here are five wrestlers who managed to successfully dust off their old characters in AEW.

#5. "The American Dragon," Bryan Danielson

In the mid to late 2000s, Bryan Danielson was one of the finest independent athletes in the world. Wrestling in various promotions, he made a name for himself as the cursing, hard-hitting, head-stomping, going-to-kick-your-teeth-out American Dragon on the independent circuit. Upon arriving in WWE, Danielson would alter his character to become the more family-friendly Daniel Bryan.

As WWE's Bryan, Danielson managed to shine as a main-event player, earning unparalleled fan support with his "Yes" movement. Originally relegated to the midcard, Danielson's popularity eventually thrust him into the world title picture in a run that saw him win several championships in WWE. Of course, when Danielson left for AEW, he had to leave his trademark name behind. But where some might have struggled to return to their previous persona, Danielson stepped back into the role of the American Dragon almost effortlessly. Nowadays, it still feels nostalgic to hear him say "I'm going to kick your head in" on AEW television, harkening back to his early career.

#4. The Return of Pac

When Pac first started wrestling, he performed under the moniker AEW fans are most familiar with. It was as Pac that the AEW Bastard we know today first established himself on the European circuit. From his debut in 2004 to his final days as an independent wrestler, Pac continued performing under his current name. When he signed with WWE, however, he was rebranded as Adrian Neville, and eventually just Neville.

In his initial few years in WWE, Neville was known as "The Man That Gravity Forgot." When he eventually turned heel during his Cruiserweight title reign, however, he took on a darker, more villainous persona. In AEW, Pac's current iteration of his character is almost an equal mixture of his early indie wrestling persona and his heel gimmick in WWE. Though the name is the same, Pac seems to be pushing his character in new, exciting directions, while also staying true to his past roots.

#3. The Various Personalities of Matt Hardy

When Matt Hardy joined AEW in 2020, fans couldn't wait to see the Broken Matt gimmick he'd created in Impact Wrestling. WWE had previously tried revamping the character as "Woken Matt," though it failed to live up to the earlier, more creative version Hardy had originated in Impact.

However, Hardy not only managed to return to to his Broken Matt character in AEW, but went on to appear under several past personas as well. Alternatively, he's been Matt Version 1 (the 2002 self-help guru he'd been in WWE) and the Unkillable Matt Hardy. Hardy's time as Broken Matt may have been brief (he is now wrestling under his Big Money gimmick), but fans delighted in seeing this past personality of Hardy's again in All Elite Wrestling.

#2. "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes

Dustin Rhodes' journey has been a long one. Originally, he was billed as a promising young star in WCW known as "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes, frequently teaming with his father, the legendary Dusty Rhodes. When he signed with WWE in 1995, that's when things took a turn for the strange. Given the character of Goldust--a gimmick he embodied on and off for over 20 years--Rhodes tried his best to get the persona and its many eccentricities over. However, a gimmick as strange as Goldust's was bound to hit the ceiling at some point.

Since signing with All Elite Wrestling, Rhodes has successfully wound the clock back to his former WCW persona as "The Natural." Under his old name, Rhodes also seems to be performing at the top of his game. Though older, he's been shown to deliver great matches against everyone from his brother Cody to Sammy Guevara. Hopefully Dustin will end up winning a title within the company at some point--something he only occasionally managed to do in WWE.

#1. Jon Moxley

Looking at his past career, it's kind of amazing to see the contrast between Jon Moxley and his WWE character, Dean Ambrose. Both may have been billed as crazed lunatics known for taking extreme risks, but the sheer violence Moxley demonstrated in his early matches made Ambrose look like a lighthearted childrens' cartoon character in comparison.

When Moxley opted to leave WWE in 2019, he cited the changes to his character as the primary reason for his departure. In his view, the alterations made to Ambrose by Vince McMahon during his 2019 feud with Seth Rollins irreparably damaged the character and its value. Looking for a fresh start, Moxley returned to his old persona as the extremely violent, hardcore talent he'd become known as when he first started wrestling.