Backstage Note On How Jericho, Danielson & Wight's WWE Raw Cameos Happened

How the AEW trio ended up congratulating John Cena on last night's WWE Raw.

Daniel Bryan
WWE

A trio of All Elite Wrestling stars made unexpected appearances on last night's WWE Raw, crossing the United States promotional divide to congratulate John Cena on his career's 20th anniversary.

Much of the episode was built around Cena, whose WWE comeback featured the 16-time World Champion in a multitude of segments. AEW's Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and Paul Wight were featured alongside WWE regulars in a series of videos putting Cena's longevity over, with Danielson and Wight going by their respect Stamford ring names, Daniel Bryan and Big Show.

Fightful Select reports that WWE was able to secure "virtually everybody" that it had reached out to for Raw's congratulatory videos. Securing AEW's consent was not an issue, with company founder and president Tony Khan fine with the appearances, allowing Danielson, Jericho, and Wight to be featured on Raw.

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Described as a "straightforward" situation, the idea was pitched to Khan after being formulated.

That all three AEW wrestlers share considerable history with Cena made them appropriate features on Raw. Unsurprisingly, the videos using Danielson and Jericho in the thumbnail were the two most-watched Raw clips uploaded to WWE's YouTube channel at the time of writing, respectively pulling in 214,000 and 232,000 viewers in three hours.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.