Barred doors across the professional wrestling industry have loosened their locks. It became common for wrestlers to split time in multiple promotions, with top stars like Jon Moxley reigning as AEW and GCW World Champion at the same time while tag teams like Aussie Open competed for Impact Wrestling and NJPW simultaneously. This crossover seems to be everywhere except WWE, as the world wrestling powerhouse has only featured exclusively contract talent on its programming. However, WWE crossovers are a one-way street, allowing stars like Karl Anderson and Shinsuke Nakamura to wrestle for NJPW and Pro Wrestling NOAH, respectively, in recent months.
While WWE slowly opens its barred door, it rarely answers the knocks of fellow American giant AEW. Contracted AEW talent like Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and Paul White have appeared on WWE TV via pre-recorded messages, but there are still no WWE Superstars showing their faces on AEW programming.
Occasionally, exceptions are made in the form of home-grown talent. That’s exactly what happened to both Monday Night Raw And the AEW Dark: Rise Earlier this week, independent wrestler Manny Lemons appeared on both shows.
on the new @employee RAW: Manny Lemons @employee He became the sixth wrestler to appear in both WWE (RAW) and AEW (Dark: Elevation) on the same night.#WWE # Raw Wrestling #AEW # The height of the gardens pic.twitter.com/YLaMVUCtjM
– Local Competitor (LocalCompWWE) January 3, 2023
Lemons wrestled a pre-taped tag match with his partner Atiba against Isiah Kassidy and Matt Hardy. AEW Dark: Rise which aired prior to a major WWE show live on the air. during Monday Night RawLemons made a direct appearance, working as a security guard in the opening segment.
The move is referred to as “pulling Rick Rude,” and the WWE Hall of Famers have also had infamous appearances on both Monday Night Raw And the WCW Monday Nitro On November 17, 1997.
Lemons is the latest to pull off the move, with Katie Arquette, Kayla Sparks, and Kelsey Heather all making simulated appearances for AEW and WWE in 2022.
Although they wouldn’t be two different shows, contracted superstars from both AEW and WWE are scheduled to wrestle on the same broadcast this week: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. AEW’s Kenny Omega challenges Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States Championship while Karl Anderson defends the NEVER Openweight Championship against Tama Tonga.
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