Former AEW Stars To Win WWE World Championship?

WWE/AEW

In the early years of AEW, we saw a number of major WWE names leave the company to join AEW, including names like Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson and FTR.

However, in recent years we have seen more of a balance between names hopping between WWE and AEW, with some stars like Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Jade Cargill going on to become world champion during their post-AEW WWE runs.

Those are far from the only names to make the move over to WWE, as there are other former AEW stars that we could see become World Champion in WWE in the coming months and years.

Here are some former AEW stars we could see become WWE World Champion.

Royce Keys

After leaving AEW at the beginning of 2026, Powerhouse Hobbs made his WWE debut in the 2026 Royal Rumble match under his new ring name Royce Keys.

Following his debut, Keys would not compete on WWE television until April, with him then winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal the night before WrestleMania 42.

After months of being a babyface in the midcard of SmackDown, Keys recently returned to the Raw roster as a heel as the leader of the new group ‘946’ with Bronco Nima and Lucien Price.

Keys and OTM have taken over Raw in the past few weeks, with it recently being reported that there has been ‘massive praise’ on Keys for slotting into a main event role so seamlessly since his return.

With Keys now rubbing shoulders with the Bloodline on WWE television, and a recent report noting that the company views him as a ‘future world champion’, Keys has to be considered a front runner to be the next former AEW star to become a world champion in WWE.

Penta

On next week’s WWE Raw in Mexico City, Penta gets the chance to challenge Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship.

While there is a very outside chance that Penta ends up beating Reigns on Raw, the match will definitely serve as a trial to see how Penta does as a main event in the company.

WWE has long been looking for it’s next top Hispanic star, and Penta could be just that, as he has exploded in popularity to become one of WWE’s most popular stars on Raw since his debut in January 2025.

While Monday may not be the day, one day we may see Penta become World Champion in WWE.

Blake Monroe

On the women’s end, there was a lot of major hype surrounding Mariah May’s WWE arrival in 2025, as her very last match in AEW was among the best in the history of the promotion, the Hollywood Ending against Toni Storm at Revolution 2025.

Now going by Blake Monroe, she reigns as a former NXT Women’s North American Champion, with her stint in NXT only lasting a year before she moved up to the SmackDown brand following WrestleMania 42.

Blake has yet to make her in-ring debut, with it seeming as though WWE has no idea what to do with her since she moved up to the main roster.

However, once Blake does make her in-ring debut, it won’t take long for her to capture the hearts of the main roster fans, with her almost certainly a future World Champion in WWE if WWE plays it’s cards right.

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• AEW
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