10 WWE Superstars You Didn't Know Wrestled In New Japan

4. Xavier Woods

Xavier Woods first broke out in wrestling as Austin Creed, a character inspired by the Rocky series' Apollo Creed. When he signed with TNA in 2007, his name changed to Consequences Creed, but his homage to Apollo remained. Over the course of the next three years, Woods would make a name for himself on the national scene, competing primarily in the X Division, but also picking up a TNA World Tag Team Championship reign. Woods was released by TNA in March of 2010, but he was announced as joining New Japan - under the Consequences Creed name - just a week later. Woods teamed up with Kota Ibushi in the first-ever Super J Tag Tournament (the company's annual junior heavyweight tag team tournament) in May, but they were eliminated in the first round. The next month, Woods returned to New Japan to team up with Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) in the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament. Again, his team came up short, but Woods was noticed - the next month, he signed with WWE.