AEW’s Shawn Dean Recalls Scouting Je’Von Evans & Jackson Drake Before They Signed With WWE: ‘I Said ‘Man, I’m Bringing Both Of You To TV”

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AEW Enhancement Talent Coordinator Shawn Dean has revealed how he scouted both Je’Von Evans and Jackson Drake before WWE signed them.

Shawn Dean has served as the AEW Enhancement Talent Coordinator for the past six years, recruiting independent talent to feature on televised shows.

With quite the list of names to have been scouted by Dean, the AEW star would name Jackson Drake and Je’Von Evans as two who have gone on to WWE careers during a recent appearance on the Kings of the Ring podcast, saying:

“Sometimes I do seminars. Je’Von Evans, Jackson Drake, I went down to Firestar Pro and said ‘Hey man, I can’t teach you how to wrestle, I’m still learning myself. I can’t teach you, but I do know what’s gonna happen if you come to TV.

“‘You’re gonna get three minutes to call this match, three minutes to do this match, and we need to see what you can do. Whether it’s fundamentals, you do something well, just in three minutes, let me see how you’re a heel, face, tell me a quick little story. Let’s see it.’

“Je’Von Evans and Jackson Drake had the best three-minute match I’ve ever seen in my life. They went crazy. When I say ‘went crazy’, I mean they did everything. They did moves, the ‘holy s**t’ moments, they did Canadian Destroyers, but it all made sense. I wasn’t offended by it.

“If you watch WWE Speed, it was like that. It was like WWE Speed before WWE Speed happened. And they went crazy and I said ‘Man, I’m bringing both of you on TV.'”

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Dean would also share advice on getting signed, revealing what he looks for in the enhancement talent he scouts. He would name Willow Nightingale, Daniel Garcia, Lee Moriarty, Skye Blue, The OutRunners, Queen Aminata as stars he scouted who have signed with AEW, and Wren Sinclair, Thea Hail, Kiana James, alongside the aforementioned Drake and Evans as names who have gone on to WWE.

Drake and the then-Jay Malachi would feature in a multi-man tag team match on AEW Dark episode 185, teaming with Oliver Sawyer in a loss to Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett & Satnam Singh in early 2023.

Scouted By AEW, Signed By WWE

For Je’Von Evans and Jackson Drake, their WWE journeys took two different forms.

Drake signed in November 2023, having participated in a tryout earlier that year, and would make his NXT debut in April of the following year, landing on the main roster in January 2026.

Along with being signed and heading straight to the main roster, the tryout-to-contract path is likely the more traditional journey that many are familiar with.

For Jackson Drake, his arrival came via WWE ID, the development program that launched in October 2024, allowing stars signed to the scheme to continue to work on the independent wrestling scene while benefiting from the TKO-owned company’s coaching and mentorship.

Drake would go on to become the first-ever WWE Evolve Champion and is regularly seen on NXT alongside his Vanity Project stablemates, The Vanity Project, with Myka Lockwood recently joining Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes.

Listening to Dean talk about stars that have signed with WWE following his scouting efforts, it’s clear that he’s as proud of those names as he is of those he has shepherded into AEW careers.

It could be argued that success is success, no matter where a particular star ends up.

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• AEW
• wwe
• Shawn Dean
• Je'Von Evans
• jackson drake

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