Wrestling as the type of business that theWWEputs on used to be a closed-door affair, meaning that they used to only allow crossovers to other wrestling leagues on a one-way basis since their business was promotingWWEfirst and foremost. With time, however, and the myriad of smaller leagues that have sprung up, that type of exclusivity is becoming a thing of the past and the crossover withWWEandAEWwith wrestler Manny Lemons.Comicbookdotcom wrote up the event in a big waytaking a tweet from @LocalcompWWE and discussing what it means not only for the event in question, but for wrestling in general.Related:Jim Cornette Says Logan Paul’s Wrestling Basics Are Better Than 90% of AEW RosterManny Lemons, the lemon-themed wrestler who carries the gimmick down to his “Zest For Life” pun-emblazoned kneepads, broke the mold in a big way recently when he appeared on bothMonday Night RawandAEW Dark: Elevationsetting the stage for larger cross-promotion in the future. Wrestling used to like to keep its roster and their gimmicks on a tighter leash, knowing that there was only so much promotion to go around, but as the field has grown and fans have spread out, wrestlers are finding they have an easier time than every of splitting the pie as Lemons proved after both wrestling forAEWand appearing as a guard onRawon the same night.
Lemons had appeared in a pre-taped tag-team match with his partner Atibaversus Matt Hardyand Isiah Kassidy earlier in the evening on theAEW Dark: Elevationprogram before popping up again to viewers’ delights when he showed up as a guard forMonday Night Raw, where he was working live. The slang for the move is called pulling a Rick Rude, so-named for the famed wrestler’sMonday Night RawandWCW Monday Nitrodouble-play back in 1997. Lemons joins a host of others who pulled off the twofer move like Katie Arquette, Kayla Sparks, and Kelsey Heather all did in 2022.
With theWWEseemingly easing up its rules about letting its exclusively contracted talent loose, things are still going slowly, with theWWEseemingly never allowing itself to be used as promotion for wrestlers from other leagues.AEW roster members like Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and Paul Wight have only ever done prerecorded messages.NJPW Wrestler Kingdom 17will see a little bit of crossover, with Kenny omega going after Will Ospreay for IWGP United States. Karl Anderson will face down with Tama Tonga to defend his NEVER Openwright championship. Every little bit helps ease the way, however, for more openWWEcrossovers in the future.
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