Released WWE Star Shows up on AEW Dark

The newly taped episodes of AEW Dark in Orlando, Florida presented a familiar face for those who watch WWE NXT, as a released NXT star is now wrestling under a different name in AEW (via JJ Williams). Not too long ago WWE released Troy ‘Two Dimes’ Donovan from the company, who was one of Tony D’Angelo’s henchmen at the time. Donovan, real name Cole Karter, was reportedly released because of a policy violation, and now Karter has wrestled a match for the current AEW Dark tapings. It remains to be seen if he will be in AEW full time from here on out, as he’s previously wrestled matches on Dark before his run in NXT.

When Karter was released WWE had already filmed two episodes of NXT, so he was present in those episodes. After that was done he was written off TV in the most Tony D’Angelo way possible, as D’Angelo and Stacks were walking along a bridge after throwing something into the water and then said Dimes was trying to overtake the Don. Then it was added that Dimes was “swimming with the fishes”.

Cole Karter the former Two Dimes is in the Dark Zone. #AEWDark pic.twitter.com/KGqf6NSQls

— JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) July 16, 2022

Karter’s last AEW Dark matches happened last year, with his most recent appearance before now happening on October 23rd. There Karter teamed up with Carlie Bravo and Arjun Singh to take on Paul Wright in a 3-on-1 handicap match.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens with Karter in AEW, though in previous reports it was said that John Laurinaitis told Karter that if everything is clear, he should apply for a job again in a year or so. It appeared the door was still open for a return, but if he ends up joining the AEW roster full time, that eventual WWE return might not end up happening.

Karter is the latest former WWE star to move over to AEW, following stars like Keith Lee, Athena, Swerve Strickland, Ruby Soho, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, and most recently Claudio Castagnoli, who appeared at Forbidden Door. Castagnoli is now primed for a shot at the ROH World Championship against ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham, while Lee and Swerve recently became AEW Tag Team Champions. Athena is in the mix for the TBS Championship, and Adam Cole recently won the first-ever Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.

H/T Wrestling News