Another Former WWE Star Just Debuted in AEW

By Matthew Aguilar

It's been a busy day for AEW, as the tapings for AEW Dark have been more eventful than normal and thus far have revealed two former WWE stars in the mix for the episodes. The first was the formerly named Troy Two Dimes Donovan, and now the tapings have revealed the presence of Parker Boudreaux (via JJ Williams), who was known as Harland back in NXT. Boudreaux was released in April of this year, and since then has made a debut in MLW at the Battle Riot. Now he's working alongside Ariya Daivari and Slim J in AEW, but there's no word on whether he's been signed full-time to AEW as of yet.

He could be appearing on a regular basis if this new trio is set to get a push, but we'll have to wait and see how things go. Boudreaux had immense hype coming into WWE and was even referred to as a version of Brock Lesnar, and he would debut in NXT in October of 2021.

He debuted as Harland, a silent powerhouse that accompanied Joe Gacy. Before the DYAD it was Harland acting as Gacy's muscle, but he wouldn't really get into the ring much during that time, only wrestling six matches during his NXT tenure. His last match in NXT was in March of 2022, and he was released the next month. As for why, reports said that he was let go because coaches were not satisfied with his in-ring work and how it was progressing.

At the time, even Paul Heyman was talking about Boudreaux's potential. "Parker Boudreaux is a very interesting human being that took his education very seriously. He's not just a meathead. He's a six-foot-three, six-foot-four, 300-pound athlete who has one hell of the head on his shoulders. So Parker Boudreaux is doing what everyone else does. He's starting from the bottom. He has reported to the WWE Performance Center. And he's got to work his way up to the top. There's a lot of roadblocks on the way. Do I think he can navigate them? Absolutely," Heyman told Esquire Middle East.

Now it seems Boudreaux is ready to take on MLW and AEW, and he seems to be getting off to a great start.

H/T Fightful

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