In the long history of professional wrestling, almost every single wrestling great has worked for WWE, from those who grew up in the company like The Rock and Randy Orton, to those who joined long after making their name elsewhere like Sting and AJ Styles.
However, there are a few wrestlers (both professional and celebrity) that you might not be aware worked for the industry leader.
So taking that into consideration, GiveMeSport takes you through ten people that you completely forgot once had a WWE match.
10. Shaquille O’Neal
Shaq is a lifelong wrestling fan and has appeared on WWE, WCW, TNA and AEW in the past 28 years. It might be less known that he wrestled in WWE as a participant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, coming face to face with The Big Show in a showdown fitting of the match.
Despite this, their long-rumoured one-on-one match never materialised.
Shaquille O'Neal and Big Show at WrestleMania 32
9. Lance Archer
The real-life Lance Hoyt wrestled on ECW and Smackdown from 2009-2010 under the ring name “Vance Archer.”
While the name is near-identical, his look was completely different. Away from his long hair and beard of today, “Vance” had short hair and was fully clean-shaven.
8. Luchasauras
AEW’s dinosaur luchador (pro wrestling things) previously worked in WWE’s developmental brands FCW and NXT from 2012-2014, working under the ring name “Judas Devlin.” A long-term injury ended his WWE career abruptly.
7. Powerhouse Hobbs
Hobbs made a one-off appearance for WWE in a dark match loss to Baron Corbin in 2016. He is now establishing himself as one of the best big men in wrestling, with this year being his true breakout as a star.
6. Britt Baker
Prior to AEW’s formation, the Doctor wrestled on the independent scene. She appeared on the July 25th, 2016 episode of Raw as a jobber in a squash match with the debuting Nia Jax. The show took place in her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Britt Baker appeared on Raw in 2016
Britt has since gone onto become one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world, with a lengthy AEW Women’s title reign to her name.
5. Snooki
The Jersey Shore star’s catfight experience came in handy when she made her WWE debut in 2011, eventually appearing in a 6-person tag match at WrestleMania 27 alongside Trish Stratus and John Morrison against Michelle McCool, Layla and Dolph Ziggler.
In what says a lot about the status of women's wrestling in the company at the time, Snooki picked up the win for her team with a cartwheel splash on McCool, a 4-time Women’s Champion.
4. Matt Jackson
The Young Bucks have long been viewed as arguably the best tag team in the world, and definitely the best to not have worked for WWE.
But in 2008, Matt Jackson worked as a jobber on two episodes of Smackdown, losing to Chuck Palumbo and The Big Show respectively.
The brothers also appeared as DX impersonators in a skit with The Miz and John Morrison on ECW later in the year.
3. Mike Tyson
The Baddest Man on the Planet’s time with WWE is best remembered for his special enforcer role at WrestleMania 14 and interactions with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. But he actually competed in a match 12 years later while guest-hosting Raw.
He tagged with Chris Jericho against his old enemies DX. Iron Mike turned on Y2J in the match, revealing his DX t-shirt and knocking him out.
Mike Tyson knocked out Chris Jericho on Raw in 2010
2. Christopher Daniels
Daniels has wrestled in nearly every single company in the industry, earning him the nickname of “King of the Indies.” It is less known that he briefly worked for WWE in the late 1990s and into the new millennium.
He mostly worked as a jobber on B shows such as Sunday Night Heat but also donned a mask as a member of “Los Conquistadores” as part of The Hardy Boyz feud with Edge and Christian.
1. Jushin Liger
The New Japan Pro Wrestling icon is one of the very few wrestling legends to never have an extended stint with the industry juggernaut. However, he has wrestled in WWE on two occasions, 25 years apart.
Liger first wrestled in April 1990 at Wrestling Summit, an event co-produced by NJPW, WWE and All Japan Pro Wrestling, and again in 2015 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn when he defeated Tyler Breeze. The Japanese legend was later inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame.
Jushin Liger wrestled at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in 2015