5 times wrestlers appeared on rival promotions despite being under WWE contract

When professional wrestlers sign a WWE contract, they are usually tied to a deal where they are only allowed to perform for their promotion. However, over the years, the company has surprisingly or inadvertently let a star of theirs feature on a rival brand's program.

Over the years, many top stars have jumped ship from World Wrestling Entertainment to work for a rival company, but they have rarely done so while still under contract.

Below are five top wrestling names who made shocking appearances in rival wrestling promotions while still being under contract with WWE.

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#5. A WWE legend is All Elite

The most recent one to cause headlines was the former WWE Champion Rob Van Dam, who appeared on AEW Dynamite earlier this month to confront the FTW Champion, Jack Perry.

Representing his former employer ECW, the Hall of Famer, who is currently signed to WWE under a legends contract, looked to silence the mouth of the disrespectful young star.

Speaking on his 1 of a Kind podcast, RVD looked back on his debut for All Elite Wrestling as he commented on how the audience responded to him:

"I didn’t expect anyone to have RVD signs and stuff like that and to be so in unison, happy to have RVD there, and so it was really cool. It was cool to go out there."

RVD added that it was great to hear the fans react to him almost hitting Jack Perry with his classic five-star Frog Splash finisher.

"When I put him [Jack Perry] on the guardrail and I went up and I got to do my thing and just to hear everybody pop, it’s like, what? I was like, Oh, you guys ready to do this? I mean, that’s a real moment. I love that," said Van Dam. [H/T WrestlingNews]

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#4. A Phenomenal congratulations

Having wrestled for 25 years, AJ Styles has worked all over the globe, capturing world titles wherever he has performed. Despite being a huge success in WWE, he has spent most of his career in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling.

The Georgie native was signed to the promotion from 2002 to 2014. During his time there, he won 12 championships and wrestled big names like Samoa Joe, Sting, and Kurt Angle.

In June of 2022, AJ Styles, who is a current WWE Superstar, appeared in a pre-taped video along with various other legends as he congratulated his former employer on its 20th anniversary.

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#3. Returning to home soil

In the last decade, World Wrestling Entertainment has looked to expand its presence in the United Kingdom with the creation of the United Kingdom World Title and later NXT UK.

Arguably the biggest star to emerge from the company's time there was Butch (a.k.a Pete Dunne), who is now a staple of the weekly product on SmackDown.

In 2017, while under contract with the company, Dunne and various other British wrestlers returned to the indy promotion ICW, where he put the WWE United Kingdom title on the line.

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#2. A Hardcore Icon goes extreme once more

In what is one of the first examples of a true forbidden door match, the year 2000 saw a WWE Superstar face off against a WCW star on ECW programming.

During the height of the Monday Night Wars, many ECW performers were picked up by the two bigger promotions. In 2000, Mike Awesome, who was ECW Champion at the time, ungracefully signed for WCW, leaving his former company in disarray.

Ever loyal to ECW, Tazz, who also just signed for World Wrestling Entertainment, returned to his former home to take the ECW title from Awesome to restore some honor to the place he made his name in.

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#1. The face of the franchise returns home

One performer who is undoubtedly WWE through and through is John Cena. Having been a part of the company for more than 20 years, the leader of Cenation worked as the face of the promotion for most of his career, main eventing multiple WrestleManias and winning a record-tying 16 World Championships.

In 2007, Cena was the biggest star in the industry, fresh off of defeating Shawn Michaels in the main event of WrestleMania 23, he was on top of the world. Having always confessed his loyalty to World Wrestling Entertainment throughout his career, fans were shocked that year when he and Vince McMahon surprisingly appeared at a show for Chaotic Wrestling in Massachusetts, Cena's home state.

To the surprise of many, Cena would actually get involved in the show as he was the match referee for the main event of the show as well as hit an attitude adjustment to Vince McMahon.