10 Most Random AEW Appearances
Virtually anyone can be an 'All Elite' performer - even this lot apparently...
There's perhaps nothing more strange in modern wrestling than the scope covered by the question, "Who's worked for AEW?" - it encompasses a genuine who's who of professional wrestlers.
A quick scan of All Elite Wrestling's Cagematch database puts this thought through your mind. Amongst the AEW stalwarts, YouTube regulars, and Forbidden Door talent accumulated through various established working arrangements sits the most random names imaginable. AEW is a promotion that goes from a star-rating system-breaking tag team match between FTR and the Young Bucks to a mundane match featuring Crowbar.
The same Crowbar who waddled through the mid-card of World Championship Wrestling more than two decades prior to becoming part of the lore of AEW.
'Random' is the chosen adjective used to describe the following ten names, not in the same mind-numbing way as Crowbar (though he absolutely does feature because it's such an insane thought to have), but in the sense that their appearance either came out of nowhere or, in a handful of circumstances, because their use was clear-as-day a ploy to fill a spot.
Tony Khan didn't actually jump at the chance of having Ariane 'Cameron' Andrew in that Deadly Draw women's duos tournament, did he? Probably not, but this is the only list you'll read that discusses both the former Funkadactyl and Jun bloody Akiyama...
10. Jun Akiyama
Random as it may have appeared, Jun Akiyama's AEW debut served as a dream-turned-reality for Eddie Kingston.
The ex-head booker and President of All Japan Pro Wrestling, Akiyama is a renowned performer, noted for his intense in-ring style and cold-faced stance, and the invention of a handful of now-common manoeuvres. For Eddie Kingston, though, Akiyama meant so much more than this. This was paramount in Kingston and Ortiz's clash with Akiyama and Konosuke Takeshita from the go-home Rampage to Full Gear; so much so that Tony Khan booked a singles contest between the two masters of the King's Road style for Full Gear itself.
This, unquestionably, ruled.
So hard.
Every heart-stopping chest slap, every nose-shattering knee to the face, every key spot - including a needlessly stomach-churning spiked DDT - built towards Eddie overcoming the two-time Triple Crown Champion, two Urakens later. A euphoric moment for one of AEW's most cherished performers.
When asked what it meant to collide with Akiyama, Kingston was at a loss for words. That has literally never happened; the Mad King is notoriously always on the ball with quick quips and heated comebacks, but Kingston's entire vocabulary left his mind here.