PHOTO: 11-year old picture of Paul Bearer managing current AEW and WWE stars emerges
A 11-year old picture of Percy Pringle, also known as the late great Paul Bearer, managing AEW star Brian Cage and WWE star LA Knight has emerged.
Brian Cage used to wrestle together as a tag team in the NWA Hollywood promotion where he used to team up with LA Knight (then known as Shaun Ricker) to form the tag team Natural Selection. The duo were managed by the legendary Paul Bearer.
Together, they won the M1W Tag Team Championship and defended it on multiple occasions. Eventually, towards the end of 2011, the duo split up and feuded with each other and the Machine set off on a singles run.
A Twitter user shared an image of Paul Bearer managing Natural Selection as a throwback.
Percy Pringle managed LA Knight and Brian Cage. https://t.co/ovCvvVRuTg
Current WWE on-screen authority figure and Director of Live Events commented on the picture as well.
@allan_cheapshot He damn sure did.
The former FTW Champion had shared an image of Paul managing them on Instagram about three years ago.
Both LA Knight and Brian Cage are grizzled veterans of the wrestling business and their careers go a long way back. It was a pleasant throwback to see a bonafide mainstream legend like Paul Bearer emerge again.
Brian Cage recently returned to AEW television
Brian Cage was absent from AEW programming for almost a year before making his return towards the latter part of September. His last match came in 2021 against Ricky Starks in a Philadelphia Street Fight.
He was part of the AEW World Championship Number One Contendership Grand Slam Golden Ticket Battle Royal at Rampage: Grand Slam. He then faced Wardlow for the TNT Championship at the anniversary special episode of Dynamite.
On the latest episode of Dynamite, the Machine succumbed to defeat once again, this time challenging Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Championship.
Cage has been embroiled in out-of-the-ring controversies regarding his booking in AEW. Both he and his partner expressed displeasure over how Tony Khan's booked him in All Elite Wrestling. While Brian Cage is far from the most over person on the roster, he is an excellent worker between the ropes and has a great case to be on television more often.