10 Wrestlers AEW Stole From Under WWE's Nose
8. Dr Britt Baker DMD
The AEW Women's Division stalwart was already more than "Adam Cole's girlfriend" in canon when, in 2019, WWE needlessly put her face on television during the the titular main event of NXT TakeOver: WarGames.
There, she was selling the damage being absorbed by Cole, but she'd sold beatings of her own on WWE television at various points between 2016 and 2018, most notably taking beatings off future WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler respectively. The latter squash in particular came at quite a key time for both performer and nascent promotion; Baszler defeated Baker by arm-breaking stoppage on the October 17th edition of NXT. Less than three months after that date, she was announced as the first signing in the AEW Women's Division by Brandi Rhodes as All Elite Wrestling formally launched.
Having proven her mettle in the ring, being known as one of the indie wrestling standouts and having an in-built gimmick, Baker seemed a lock for WWE. Instead, she paved a brand new and just as lucrative path, and has been front and centre of the company ever since.