The wrestling business has changed for WWE since AEW made its debut in 2019. Whilst it appears that there are several WWE Superstars heading over to All Elite Wrestling at present, there are a few who have gone the opposite way.
WWE's recent releases have led to it being highly publicized that the likes of Miro, Andrade, Daniel Bryan, Adam Cole, and Ruby Riott have all headed over to AEW. However, there are a handful of stars who wrestled for AEW before going on to sign with WWE.
The following list looks at four current stars and one former WWE Superstar who actually found their feet in AEW before making the move over to WWE.
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#5. Current WWE Superstar Gigi Dolin / Priscilla Kelly
Under the name Priscilla Kelly, Gigi Dolin was able to become a household name, mostly down to her strange tactics in matches which allowed her to become a viral trend.
Kelly married AEW Superstar Darby Allin back in November 2018 just months after the star made her first appearance for WWE as part of the second Mae Young Classic.
Kelly was knocked out in the first round by Deonna Purrazzo and this then led to the star making several appearances for All Elite Wrestling.
Kelly's first appearance came back in 2019 when she was part of the Casino Battle Royal at All Out. The current WWE Superstar then went on to make her second appearance for the company when she wrestled Britt Baker as part of Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave in January 2020.
It was later revealed that Allin and Kelly were divorcing in August 2020. A few months later, in January 2021, WWE revealed that they had signed the former AEW star. She was later handed the ring name Gigi Dolin and has since become part of Toxic Attraction.
As part of NXT Halloween Havoc last month, Dolin and Jacy Jayne defeated Io Shirai and Zoey Stark, and Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta to become NXT Women's Tag Team Champions for the first time.
#4. Current WWE Superstar Cora Jade / Elayna Black
Cora Jade is currently one of the up-and-coming female wrestlers who are part of WWE's NXT brand.
She was signed to the company in January 2021, but ahead of her move over to Vince McMahon's company, the 21-year-old already had quite the wealth of experience.
Jade first appeared for IMPACT Wrestling in 2019 where she was defeated by Havok at Prelude To Glory.
The following year, she made her debut for AEW as part of their Dark show. Jade wrestled Red Velvet on October 13th episode before later teaming up with Leyla Hirsch. The duo lost their match to Brandi Rhodes and Red Velvet, just weeks before it was announced that she had signed with WWE.
Jade was part of the same Performance Center class as fellow former AEW Star Priscilla Kelly and both women are now part of the NXT Women's Division. Following her signing, she was quickly renamed Cora Jade and has recently been wrestling dark matches for WWE ahead of SmackDown.
#3. Current WWE Superstar Nathan Frazer / Ben Carter
It was revealed in December 2020 that former AEW star Ben Carter had signed with WWE.
Over the past few months, Carter has been appearing on WWE's NXT UK brand under the name Nathan Frazer. The star made his debut on the brand back in January and has since made quite a name for himself in the Cruiserweight Division.
Ahead of his move over to WWE, he wrestled in a number of matches for AEW, which includes main eventing one of their Late Night Dynamite shows against one of the company's best-known stars, Scorpio Sky.
Carter also wrestled Ricky Starks and Lee Johnson as part of AEW Dark in September 2020 before announcing that he had signed with their competition at the end of the year.
The former AEW star has picked up a number of impressive wins throughout his short time on NXT UK. He suffered his first loss more than four months after his debut when he was pinned by Noam Dar.
#2. Former WWE Superstar Mercedes Martinez
Mercedes Martinez is a wrestling veteran, but after more than a year in WWE, she was released from the company. Like many other women on the circuit at the time, Martinez wrestled for WWE as part of the Mae Young Classic, before heading over to AEW when Vince McMahon's company failed to sign her.
Martinez was then seen as the Joker in the second Casino Battle Royale at All Out in August 2019. She later went on to return to the company for a match on AEW in November later that year, where she teamed up with Big Swole.
Just months later Martinez was officially signed by WWE and even made it to the company's main roster as a member of RETRIBUTION. Martinez later revealed that she asked to quit the group because she found it difficult to wrestle under a mask and was then able to return to NXT.
Martinez was released from WWE as part of the second talent cull of the year which came on August 6th, 2021.
#1. Current WWE NXT UK Superstar Blair Davenport/Bea Priestley
One of the best-known former AEW Superstars currently in WWE is Blair Davenport, formerly known as Bea Priestley.
Priestley was well-known on the Independent circuit before joining AEW in 2019 when she had initially rejected a contract with WWE in favor of Tony Khan's company.
The star went on to wrestle several matches for AEW throughout the year she was contracted, before the company decided to release her in August 2020. Priestley was reportedly released when she was unable to travel from her home in Japan during COVID-19.
The current WWE Superstar is famously in a relationship with fellow wrestler Will Ospreay, who is currently contracted to New Japan Pro Wrestling. The couple once lived together in Japan before Priestley made the move over to become part of WWE.
Almost a year after Priestley was released from AEW, she was snapped up by WWE and hired to work as part of their NXT UK brand. The star is currently wrestling under the ring name Blair Davenport.