Rick Rude's 24-Year-Old Cross-Promotional Record Was Quietly Broken Last Week

Update: A handful of wrestlers have appeared on rival shows in the same night, including Tomasso Ciampa who did it on NXT and Impact, and Kenny Omega more recently on Impact and AEW. However, Heather is the first to do it on Raw and a rival show since Rude. Mike Reed came close to repeating the feat last year, appearing as an extra on Raw on Monday and competing in a match on AEW Dark the following night.

Original Story: Rick Rude was previously the only man to appear on Raw and a rival wrestling show on the same night, until now.

WWE issuing released wrestlers with 90-day non-compete clauses has become a point of contention recently. The clause was born from the Monday Night War era to prevent WWE Superstars from walking out one day and appearing on WCW TV the next. Or, in Rick Rude's case, appearing on both Raw and Nitro in the same night, which had fans very confused at the time.

Rick Rude On Raw And Nitro

In 1997, Rude, who fans still believed was a WWE Superstar, showed up on Nitro and trashed WWE. Later that night, The Ravishing One (Rick, not Lana) popped up on Raw in his usual role alongside D-Generation X. Raw had been taped ahead of time that week, and between taping that show and the following Monday, Rude's WWE contract had lapsed and he had signed a new one with WCW.

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24 years later and that feat has been repeated. Not to the same degree as it went almost completely unnoticed by some, but it was still pretty cool. Kelsey Heather, a name most wrestling fans won't have heard, at least not yet, wrestled a match on AEW Dark Elevation, losing to Leyla Hirsch. Elevation is taped ahead of time and streams on YouTube Monday nights.

Kelsey Heather, Ladies And Gentlemen

On the same night, Heather appeared on Raw as an extra. The young wrestler was one of the women following MVP around that was sent back to the locker room by Bobby Lashley at the end of the night. Last week's Raw was also pre-taped, which means despite appearing on two different wrestling shows last Monday, Heather was probably sat at home able to watch both her appearances simultaneously.

In terms of the non-compete clauses, WWE does seem to be letting up a little bit. NXT stars are only given 30-day non-competes, and released stars like Aleister Black and Andrade both made their Dynamite debuts long before 90 days had passed. Not everyone has been afforded that opportunity, though. WWE has released more than 40 people so far this year, most of whom are yet to appear elsewhere.

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