5 wrestlers who have wrestled in IMPACT and WWE in 2020
2020 has been a crazy year, to say the least, and the wrestling world has been no different. When the world shut down due to the pandemic, WWE, AEW and IMPACT all managed to continue their weekly programming.
Then in May, WWE made the decision to release a large number of on-screen and backstage talent. Wrestlers such as Rusev, Sarah Logan and Zack Ryder were a few of the wrestlers that were let go, while long term referee Mike Chioda, and backstage producer and WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, were also released.
The news came as a big shock and was widely criticized by many fans. But WWE's loss was IMPACT's gain as they snapped up many of the underutilized talents. AEW also benefitted from WWE's slate of releases.
The releases and signings have meant that wrestlers are able to appear for multiple companies in the same year, a scenario that has not been seen in a long time.
In this article we will look at five wrestlers who have wrestled in both IMPACT and WWE in 2020.
#5 Eric Young has wrestled for both WWE and IMPACT in 2020
In 2016, Eric Young made the decision to leave TNA/IMPACT after twelve years with the company. A month later Young made his NXT debut as a surprise opponent to challenge Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship.
Young then formed the stable SAnitY along with Killian Dain, Alexander Wolfe and Nikki Cross. The manic quartet ran roughshod over NXT's tag team division eventually winning the tag team titles off The Authors of Pain in an excellent match at WWE NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III on August 19, 2017.
SAnitY went on to be a massive part of the first-ever NXT WarGames match and they dropped the titles to the Undisputed Era two weeks later.
In 2018, the group, minus Nikki Cross, were brought up to SmackDown and that's where things got messy. Despite an amazing gimmick in NXT it was never allowed to fully blossom on the main roster. Although things started well with a feud with The New Day, SAnitY were hardly seen on television and only wrestled in dark matches and house show live events.
The group disbanded in 2019 and Young became a solo act. Unfortunately, this did little to improve his status, and he became a regular on the Main Event until his release.
Eric Young was released from WWE in May
Eric Young made his triumphant return to IMPACT as a surprise entrant in the five-way elimination match at Slammiversary XVIII.
Just a month later he became the IMPACT World Champion for the second time. Since then he lost the title to Rich Swann at Bound for Glory. But he is back wrestling regularly on TV and allowed to be himself creatively, which is much better than the tail end of his WWE run.