10 MORE Secret WWE Pasts Of AEW Wrestlers
8. Cezar Bononi
Cezar Bononi showing up in All Elite Wrestling was quite the shock, if only because even during his AEW matches he looks, works and even feels like a WWE can't-miss project.
Part of that might be because he was in the system so f*cking long.
Bononi debuted for NXT in 2016 and worked right up to the pandemic closedown, wrestling for the last time for the black-and-gold brand in March 2020 before his release shortly afterwards.
He's one of several on this list who serve as something of an indictment of Triple H's process rather than a retrospective celebration - for all the work he must have put in over four gruelling years in the Performance Center, it's honestly difficult as a fan to see exactly how developmental has...developed him.
Bononi's work is solid but unexceptional, and a natural charisma lurking under that incredible aesthetic has only really shown itself since rocking up in Jacksonville. He may not be be built to last, but being built should ensure he gets ample oppportunities to figure it out.