10 WWE Stars Who Wrestled For Other Companies While UNDER CONTRACT | partsFUNknown - video Dailymotion

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10 WWE Stars Who Wrestled For Other Companies While UNDER CONTRACT | partsFUNknown WWE doesn't play well with others, except when they do. These are 10 WWE stars who wrestled for other promotions while under contract!  00:00 - Start 00:59 - 10 02:04 - 9 03:11 - 8 04:48 - 7 06:14 - 6 07:27 - 5 08:12 - 4 09:19 - 3 10:21 - 2 11:30 - 1  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/ Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/ Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/

Transcript

00:00 What do WWE and Seto Kaiba have in common?

00:02 They both do not play well with others.

00:05 But as is the case with most things, exceptions can be made.

00:08 Like the time Kaiba teamed up with Yugi to duel Darts, or Lumis and Umbra, or, in WWE's

00:13 case, the rare time they've allowed their contracted talent to wrestle for other companies.

00:17 Interpromotional wrestling matches have often been a tricky topic to broach, especially

00:21 as WWE continued to grow like a gelatinous space cloud consuming everything it comes

00:26 in contact with.

00:27 But every once in a very bizarre while, WWE has made exceptions to this rule.

00:31 And with a few of these cases coming very recently, who's to say we won't see WWE

00:35 kick down their own forbidden door in the future?

00:37 Until then, I'm Tempest Hailing from PartsFunKnown, and these are 10 WWE stars who wrestled for

00:42 other companies while under contract.

00:44 But before we get on with that list, make sure of course that you subscribe and enable

00:47 notifications to always on so you never miss a fun list just like it.

00:49 I'm running out of ways to say that you need to subscribe, but you really, really

00:53 do.

00:54 I mean, the Royal Rumble just happened.

00:55 There's loads of Royal Rumble content.

00:56 Watch all of that.

00:57 Subscribe.

00:58 Watch it.

00:59 Watch it.

01:00 10.

01:01 Karl Anderson in New Japan Remember the autumn of 2022 when Vince McMahon

01:03 had retired, Triple H was in charge of creative, bringing back big names who should never have

01:07 been released, and everyone was, you know, optimistic?

01:10 Well, one of the most surprising returns during those particularly exciting days was that

01:14 of QuizzleMania tag champs Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.

01:17 Not only because those two good brothers thoroughly trashed WWE on their way out in 2020, but

01:22 also because Karl Anderson was the f***ing never-open-weight champion.

01:26 To not only see stars from New Japan arrive, but a champion?

01:30 A new era this is indeed.

01:31 The Machine Gun then went on to miss his scheduled title defense against Hikaleo at New Japan

01:35 Pro Wrestling's Battle Autumn show in November because he was busy wrestling in Saudi Arabia.

01:40 In normal circumstances, a champion missing a title defense in New Japan is stripped of

01:44 their title, but not in this case.

01:46 Why?

01:47 Well, because WWE and New Japan had come to an agreement allowing Sour Boy to defend his

01:50 title at New Japan's World Tag League Final before dropping it to former Bullet Club brethren

01:55 Tama Tonga in the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom 17, making Karl Anderson the first WWE contracted

02:00 talent to compete at Wrestle Kingdom.

02:02 How kind of WWE.

02:04 Number 9.

02:05 Cassius Ohno In Evolve It's one thing to be under contract for

02:08 WWE and wrestle somewhere else, but wrestling somewhere else on the same day that WWE has

02:13 a show in the same town is taking things to a whole new level.

02:17 That's precisely what Cassius Ohno did Royal Rumble Weekend in 2017.

02:20 Ohno, aka Chris Hero, had returned to NXT at the end of 2016 just in time for TakeOver

02:26 San Antonio in January, but Ohno didn't appear on that show.

02:29 He wrestled Zack Sabre Jr. in Evolve that same night in San Antonio.

02:34 One reason why this was allowed to happen was that in 2017, Evolve was one of several

02:38 indie promotions with which WWE had formed a working relationship.

02:41 So take that pass Tempest saying WWE doesn't play well with others.

02:45 It made for some other pretty stunning cameos too.

02:48 Triple H popped up in ICW, Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate both held championships in progress

02:52 during their reigns as WWE United Kingdom Champion, and in fact, Ohno went back to Evolve

02:57 for three shows in 2018 while continuing to wrestle in NXT.

03:01 The Forbidden Door felt more like a revolving door during this unusual period, but soon

03:05 afterwards, WWE clamped down on letting its talent do double duty, even with the indies

03:09 with whom they'd welcomed into the fold.

03:11 Number 8.

03:12 Everyone Goes to Memphis You know all those wrestling history books

03:15 that tell you Vince created this evil Mr. McMahon character in 1998 for that feud with

03:19 Stone Cold?

03:20 Burn 'em!

03:21 Okay, don't actually go around burning books, but at least realize that they can be wrong.

03:25 Because in fact, that Mr. McMahon persona was born five years earlier in Memphis.

03:29 In 1993, Jerry Lawler was running his USWA promotion out of Memphis when he also started

03:34 working for McMahon.

03:35 Although a heel on WWE TV, the King was a folk hero in his home city, and the two companies

03:40 started a running storyline that was revolutionary for its time.

03:43 It admitted that McMahon, who had always been presented on television as simply an announcer,

03:48 was indeed WWE's head honcho, and a dastardly one at that, leading an army of his talent

03:53 to invade Lawler's promotion.

03:54 On USWA television, shown only in the Memphis area, McMahon cut promos taunting Lawler and

03:59 mocking the Memphis fans, while sending several of his big names into battle there.

04:03 Brett Nohan Hart were babyfaces in their WWE feud against Lawler, but here their roles

04:07 were reversed, with the Canadians nicknaming Memphis as "Disgrace Land" (clever).

04:12 Macho Man Randy Savage also reignited a rivalry that he had had with Lawler prior to his WWE

04:17 days, and Tatanka, at the time an undefeated fan favorite in WWE, seized the USWA title

04:22 as a heel, prompting McMahon to wear the belt in yet another scathing promo.

04:26 Lawler then won the title back from Tatanka while his undefeated streak in WWE was still

04:30 ongoing (none of that was ever acknowledged on WWE TV), so while the rest of the world

04:35 carried on as normal, fans channel surfing in Memphis must have thought they were living

04:39 in some kind of weird, confusing multiverse where good guys are sometimes bad, and bad

04:43 guys are sometimes good, but good guys can also be good guys, and bad guys can also be...

04:47 I need to lie down.

04:48 7.

04:49 Hulk Hogan in New Japan Pro Wrestling Hey, remember that time Hulk Hogan came back

04:53 to WWE in 1993, politics his way into winning a WrestleMania main event that he wasn't

04:57 even supposed to be in, and then told a press conference in Japan that it wasn't the championship

05:02 he really wanted anyway?

05:03 The first two parts of that story are common knowledge for those who have been fans long

05:06 enough, but you might not know about the third part.

05:09 It was May 1993, and Hogan was in the midst of his fifth WWE title reign, which started

05:13 to the surprise of everyone, particularly Bret Hart, at WrestleMania 9.

05:17 The Hulkster had actually had a pretty impressive career in Japan prior to his WWE run, including

05:22 winning the first ever IWGP League Tournament in 1983, the predecessor to the G1 Climax,

05:27 so he was well-respected there, and a champion vs champion match, against the reigning IWGP

05:32 Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta, was a very big deal, even if the belts weren't

05:36 on the line.

05:37 Despite a somewhat fractious relationship between the two companies at this point, the

05:40 match went ahead at the Wrestling Dontaku event on May 3rd, in front of over 50,000

05:44 fans.

05:45 Hogan won, which presumably was a condition of him being allowed to compete, but it was

05:49 what happened in the press conference afterwards that was most remarkable.

05:52 Hulk called the WWE title nothing but a toy, while the IWGP Championship was a real title

05:58 belt worth having.

05:59 Well, okay then.

06:00 Naturally, Vince McMahon was thrilled about this, and Hogan lost the WWE title to Yoko

06:05 Zuna the following month at King of the Ring, which he presumably didn't care about since

06:08 he thought it was so worthless.

06:10 He then left the company, ended up in WCW, and well, we all know the rest.

06:14 6.

06:15 The Brian Pillman Memorial Shows When Brian Pillman was found dead in his motel

06:18 room in October 1997, the wrestling world lost one of its most unique characters and

06:22 sharpest minds.

06:24 One small positive that came out of the tragedy was that during the following four years,

06:27 the wrestling world came together to host charity shows that raised money for his children's

06:31 education.

06:32 Of course, this was all during the Monday Night War, so an event featuring contracted

06:35 talent from all three of WWE, WCW, and ECW was not something you saw every day.

06:40 But it's exactly what happened here, and it produced some in-ring magic.

06:44 The first edition of this show featured a main event of Chris Benoit against Chris Jericho,

06:48 both of whom were with WCW at the time.

06:50 But by 1999, WWE had embraced the idea too, and sent Mick Foley, D'Lo Brown, Al Snow,

06:55 and Road Dogg to Pillman's native Ohio for the event.

06:58 The 2000 event featured an ECW title match between Raven and Justin Credible, but is

07:02 best remembered for a classic match between Benoit, who by now was with WWE, and William

07:07 Regal.

07:08 The fourth and final memorial show was in August 2001, at the height of the WWE-WCW-ECW

07:13 invasion angle, and included the Hardys and Edge and Christian among the talent involved.

07:18 Four years of brilliant gestures for a worthy cause, and another example of how sometimes

07:22 top wrestling promotions can put aside their differences and hug it out, if the circumstances

07:26 are right.

07:27 Number 5 - Bret Hart at Terry Funk's WrestleFest

07:30 Anyone who's seen the famous wrestling documentary "Beyond the Mat" will know all about this

07:34 one.

07:35 In 1997, hardcore wrestling legend Terry Funk was ready to retire, having accumulated more

07:38 than three decades of in-ring punishment.

07:40 To celebrate the occasion, ECW hosted a special show in the Funksters' hometown of Amarillo,

07:45 Texas, and two high-profile WWE stars were allowed to take part.

07:49 One was Mick Foley, who had an interpromotional match against ECW's Sabu, while the other

07:53 was none other than the WWE Champion himself, Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

07:57 Despite Bret offering to lose the match out of respect for Funk, The Hitman eventually

08:01 goes over, and Funk's career ended forever.

08:04 Forever of course, meaning 11 days, with Funk eventually retiring in 1999, and again in

08:09 2005, and 2011, and 2015.

08:11 And Number 4 - The Undertaker and Michinoku Pro

08:14 Aside from Vince McMahon himself, there isn't anyone more synonymous with WWE than Mean

08:19 Mark Spookles, and seeing him somewhere else would just have been weird.

08:22 I mean, admittedly not weirder than having a one-on-one match against yourself in the

08:26 main event of Summerslam, or murdering your long-time manager live on international television

08:30 by burying him alive in a glass box filled with cement, or crucifying your boss' daughter

08:34 while trying to force her into a satanic marriage, what were we talking about again?

08:38 Oh right, so with all of this WWE history to his name, it must have also been pretty

08:42 odd to see him in October 1997 over in Japan fighting in Michinoku Pro.

08:47 The appearance was apparently part of a talent swap deal that had seen Taka Michinoku and

08:51 The Great Sasuke compete in WWE a few months earlier.

08:54 The Deadman went up against former WWE star, Hakushi, and randomly brought Bruce Prichard

08:58 along to be his manager, I guess as a throwback to his Survivor Series 1990 debut alongside

09:03 Brother Love.

09:04 I dunno.

09:05 Hakushi was working some bizarre storyline where he was in a state of purgatory and had

09:08 to win to regain his soul, pretty standard stuff for The Undertaker really, but in the

09:11 end, he got dropped on his head with a tombstone pile driver, the referee counted to three,

09:15 and was left to face the prospect of eternal damnation.

09:18 Which is a shame.

09:19 Number 3 - Shawn Michaels and Smokey Mountain Wrestling

09:22 A bit like the relationship that WWE had with Jerry Lawler's USWA in 1993, there was some

09:27 more cross-promotional shenanigans going on in 1995, this time with Jim Cornette's indie

09:32 promotion Smokey Mountain Wrestling.

09:33 In fact, Smokey Mountain's tag champs, The Heavenly Bodies, defended their titles at

09:37 Survivor Series and challenged the Steiners for the WWE belts at SummerSlam that year.

09:41 But what's really interesting is the talent that went the other way.

09:44 This was another rare example of a place where The Undertaker wrestled outside of WWE, and

09:49 the Steiners, and even the man who was well on his way to becoming a franchise player

09:52 in Stamford, a man by the name of Shawn Michaels.

09:55 At Smokey Mountain's Super Bowl of Wrestling, it's biggest show of the year, Undertaker

09:59 kind of incredibly had a match against Kane, well, Glenn Jacobs at least, who was wrestling

10:04 under the name Unibomb at the time.

10:06 Then in the main event, HBK defended his newly won Intercontinental Championship against

10:10 Nature Boy Buddy Landell in what was, by all accounts, a pretty darn good bout.

10:14 Unfortunately it wasn't enough to save Smokey Mountain, which went out of business before

10:17 the end of the year, but it's still a pretty cool piece of wrestling trivia.

10:20 Number 2.

10:21 Shinsuke Nakamura in Pro Wrestling Noah

10:23 Another recent example of how having Triple H at the helm of WWE opened doors that were

10:28 firmly locked when Vince McMahon was still in charge.

10:30 When Japanese legend The Great Muda announced in June 2022 that he would soon be hanging

10:34 up his boots, he planned a series of big matches as part of his send-off, and one of the names

10:39 on his wish list was Shinsuke Nakamura.

10:41 Apparently it was made clear at the time that there was no chance in hell (wink) of such

10:45 a match happening, but then, as we know, one month later Vince's life got a lot more complicated

10:50 and there was a change of regime.

10:52 Nakamura says that he then tried his luck again, and was astonished that he was now

10:55 allowed to do the match.

10:57 It went down at Pro Wrestling Noah's New Year's show on January 1st, and featured Nakamura

11:01 using an unorthodox technique to beat his legendary foe.

11:04 Shinsuke smacked a big ol' lip lock on Muda towards the end of the match, not to show

11:08 affection for his 40-year career, but to suck out the trademark green mist that might otherwise

11:13 have ended up all over his face.

11:14 He then gave Muda a taste of his own mist, knocked him out with a kinshasa, and pinned

11:18 him.

11:19 It was a fun start to Nakamura's year, and hopefully we look forward to many more opportunities

11:24 under WWE's new management.

11:26 Wait, what happened the next week?

11:28 Oh, for the love of God.

11:29 And number one, Taz ECW.

11:32 This one has indeed been talked about to death on Wrestling YouTube, but yes, a WWE guy beat

11:37 a WCW guy for the ECW title in the year 2000.

11:41 This had been the case for much of the promotion's life.

11:43 In 1999, some of ECW's biggest talents were jumping ship to their two larger rivals.

11:47 Taz left for WWE, while reigning ECW champion Mike Awesome headed out for WCW.

11:52 Paul Heyman was prepared to let him go, on the condition that he return to do the decent

11:56 thing and lose to an opponent of ECW's choosing on a date of their choosing.

12:00 Eric Bischoff agreed, but the opponent of ECW's choosing turned out to be quite a shocker.

12:04 It went down on an ECW show on April 8th, with the fans losing their minds as Taz was

12:09 revealed as Awesome's opponent.

12:11 And so it was that Taz became ECW champion while under WWE contract, albeit only for

12:16 a short amount of time.

12:17 Two weeks later, he dropped the title to Tommy Dreamer, but of course, WWE made the most

12:22 of that fortnight, having Triple H score a cheeky Smackdown victory over Taz while he

12:26 held the ECW belt, just for the fun of it.

12:29 Of course, within a year, such a merger of WWE, WCW, and ECW would be perfectly plausible,

12:34 but in the year 2000, this wasn't so much an opening of the forbidden door as it was

12:38 ripping the door off its hinges and powerbombing Mike Awesome through it.

12:41 And that's our list.

12:42 Make sure of course that you subscribe to PartsFunKnown and click the link above so

12:45 that you can see the best match from every year of Raw.

12:49 We can now take a moment to reflect on the times that the show wasn't a steaming pile.

12:53 It's happened less often than you think.

12:54 Alright, let's quit the pitter patter and let's get at her.

12:56 I'm Tempest Haling from PartsFunKnown, and this is the best match from every year of

13:00 WWE Raw.

10 WWE Stars Who Wrestled For Other Companies While UNDER CONTRACT | partsFUNknown

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