AEW Wrestlers and their Attitude Era counterparts

#2. AEW's version of Stone Cold is Jon Moxley

When he made his debut in AEW, Jon Moxley returned to the hardcore style of wrestling that he'd popularized before joining WWE. Moxley has since been credited with bringing that more extreme style of wrestling to AEW, alongside Eddie Kingston and Joey Janela.

An argument could be made that Moxley is closer to Mick Foley than he is to Stone Cold. However, in terms of personality, Moxley is more akin to Austin than anyone else.

Both are brawler-heavy wrestlers that are considered star players in their wrestling promotion. Their lengthy championship runs and characters are also somewhat similar, as both opted to battle corrupt villainous factions who essentially ran their company.

While Moxley would eventually partner with Eddie Kingston, the first phase of his AEW career directly mirrors that of Stone Cold during The Rattlesnake's peak.

#1. Adam Cole as DX era Shawn Michaels

There are so many parallels between Adam Cole and Shawn Michaels, it's hard to know where to begin. Both wrestlers share a similar in-ring wrestling style, favoring a mix of chops, occasional high-flying moves, and superkicks. Both are also known for being heel leaders of a major faction, leading them to become popular talents in their respective companies.

Cole's role in Tony Khan's promotion more or less resembles that of HBK's in WWE in 1997. As part of DX, HBK was known for exploiting the rules of wrestling. Frequently cheating to win and relying on outside interference from Triple H and Chyna, Michaels became the main heel in WWE.

Nowadays, fans can certainly see Cole adopting a similar persona as the defacto leader of The Elite. Should Cole earn main event status or turn face at some point, it'd be interesting to see whether he'd have the same popularity as Michaels had.