HeelByNature.com is reader-supported. When you click on links or make purchases through our site, we or our affiliated partners may earn a commission. Additionally, our site features Sponsored Content, which helps us maintain and operate the website.
Several former WWE Superstars have made their AEW debuts.
This past Sunday saw AEW hold their latest set of AEW Dark tapings at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Unlike AEW Dark Elevation, Dark is taped hours at a time, which means that several returns and debuts usually occur during the tapings.
Two former WWE Superstars made their AEW debuts during Sunday’s set of tapings.
The first was Westin Blake, formerly known in WWE as Wesley Blake. During the majority of his time with the company, Blake was a member of the Forgotten Sons stable alongside Jaxson Ryker and Steve Cutler. The group had a three-year run in NXT before being called up to the main roster, where they survived for around a month before Blake was released. However prior to this, Blake found success in NXT when he won the NXT Tag Team Championships with Buddy Murphy.
Following his WWE release, Blake has worked on the independent scene, primarily for Control Your Narrative alongside the likes of Adam Scherr (fka Braun Strowman), EC3, and Flip Gordon.
Another former WWE name who made their AEW this past weekend was No Way Jose, who is now using the name Levy Valenz. He’s probably best known for his time in NXT and on the main roster, where he lead a conga line to the ring every time he had a match.
Valenz had a short run in Impact Wrestling between July and November last year, where he used the name ‘No Way’ and teamed with Fallah Bahh. Since then, he has wrestled limited independent dates for DEFY.
It’s unclear right now whether either man will sign with AEW, however in the past we have seen numerous independent wrestlers join the company through appearing on Dark.
Also during the tapings, Bear Country were repackaged as ‘The Iron Savages’, and VSK joined The Trustbusters as the ‘Trust Butler’.