5 AEW wrestlers who successfully returned to old gimmicks

#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.