Ex-WWE Champion Makes Surprise AEW Debut

There was a major surprise in AEW as a former champion in WWE made their debut in Tony Khan’s company.

AEW Dynamite in Orlando, Florida, saw Brody King confront MJF as he staked his case for a shot at the AEW World Championship. Swerve Strickland might have something to say about that as he picked up a win over one-third of the AEW Trios Champions, Kevin Knight. Another member of the AEW Trios Champions also lost as Speedball Mike Bailey lost out to Samoa Joe.

Marina Shafir continued to be a thorn in the side of Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa as she helped Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford pick up a major win. Kenny Omega competed in his first singles match since losing to Kazuchika Okada at All In Texas as he defeated The Don Callis Family’s Josh Alexander.

Before Dynamite took place, however, AEW held some dark matches, and one of them came with a huge surprise.

Ex-WWE US Champion Turns Up In AEW

WWE Hall of Famer Billy Gunn returned to action in the company for the first time in over 18 months as he teamed with Austin Gunn, Brady Booker, and Elijah Drago to defeat the quartet of Better Together, Martin Stone, and Bishop Dyer.

Those last two names might not be familiar to WWE fans, but the wrestlers themselves will be. Martin Stone is the former NXT star Danny Burch. Stone recently opened up about the roadblock he ran into with Shawn Michaels after opening up about his addiction issues.

Bishop Dyer is better known as the former WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin. Corbin left WWE when his contract expired at the end of 2024 and has re-emerged in MLW and on the independent scene as Bishop Dyer.

Back at the start of 2025, Baron Corbin appeared to rule out a switch to AEW for one specific reason. But after a year out of his former company, that might have changed.