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Surprise AEW Debut For Forgotten Ex-WWE Star

By Lyle Kilbane • Published 27th March 2025
Tony Khan AEW

A forgotten former WWE star has made a very unexpected on-screen debut on AEW Dynamite.

On April 19 2024, WWE released Jinder Mahal, Xyon Quinn, Xia Li, Veer, and Sanga. The departures caught many by surprise with the news breaking while SmackDown was on the air. In the days that followed, it also emerged that Von Wagner had also been released.

Von Wagner had been declared a free agent after the 2023 WWE Draft but only made one Raw appearance after that and was still featured frequently on NXT. Wagner had been associated with Robert Stone who has since gone on to become NXT General Manager Ava’s assistant.

Since leaving WWE, Von Wagner has only competed in one match which came on March 15 2025 under his real name Cal Bloom. He was accompanied to the ring for that bout by his father Wayne Bloom who competed in WWE as Beau Beverly, one-half of the early nineties tag team The Beverly Brothers.

Von Wagner Appears On AEW Dynamite

Now in something of a surprise move, Wagner has made his on-screen debut for AEW but not in the way most fans might imagine. On the March 26 edition of Dynamite, security had to break up a brawl before Powerhouse Hobbs and Mark Davis clashed in a match. Von Wagner was one of the security guards involved in the segment but his identity was never referenced on the show.