Indie Wrestler Pulled From AEW Match So Bishop Dyer Could Work It

Bishop Dyer—formerly WWE’s Baron Corbin—made his AEW debut in a dark match ahead of Dynamite, but he wasn’t originally part of the plan.

According to Fightful Select, indie standout Robert Martyr was originally scheduled to work the pre-show match in Orlando. However, he was ultimately replaced by Dyer, who teamed with Martin Stone (Danny Burch), Hadar Horvitz, and Ori Gold in a losing effort against Austin Gunn, Billy Gunn, Brady Booker, and Elijah Drago.

Dyer’s appearance wasn’t planned in advance, either. In fact, he only showed up because he was giving Paul Wight (Big Show) a ride to the venue. As Dyer later explained on Off The Ropes with Jonathan Coachman:

“The highlight of my day was not only being in the ring, with that crowd… but the whole thing started because I went to pick up Big Show to take him up to Orlando for the show.”

Once backstage, Billy Gunn spotted him and made the impromptu pitch:

“He’s like, ‘Hey man, do you wanna be in this dark match with us?’ And I was like, ‘Dude, if it gets OK’d, I’m sold.’”

Tony Khan approved the switch, and just like that, the dark match was reshuffled—Martyr out, Dyer in.

Despite the last-minute nature of the change, Dyer made the most of the moment, soaking up the crowd’s energy and earning praise from AEW leadership. But for fans of Robert Martyr, the swap leaves questions about what could’ve been.

Whether this was a one-off or a sign of AEW testing the waters with Dyer remains to be seen—but either way, it wasn’t the debut AEW originally had in mind.