10 Wrestlers AEW Stole From Under WWE's Nose

3. John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Jamie Hayter
WWE

Dark Order lifers John Silver and Alex Reynolds were brought in to All Elite Wrestling in late-2019, first to be beaten up supposedly terrifying group they'd later join, before extolling the virtues of being taken in by the corrupting influences.

A strange way to kick off a run that has now lasted four years and helped them cultivate personalities as tenured television pros, but even stranger was that they were on WWE screens just weeks before AEW Dynamite transformed the landscape of the weekly wrestling world.

Eating a squash loss to Heavy Machinery on a Madison Square Garden edition of SmackDown in September, the pair weren't picked up by the market leader and quickly went from making up the numbers to making it onto pay-per-view for the brand new opposition. As the warm body taking the most abuse, Silver in particular shone, but the slick tag outfit that lay beneath the local enhancement aura was deemed surplus - or extra - to company requirements at the time.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett