10 Wrestlers Who Will Change The Business Over The Next 10 Years
8. Jungle Boy
In about five to seven years, that image above is going to trip you out.
It's going to develop the same no-way connotations as those old super-ripped photos of Ric Flair, of a pink-haired Jon Moxley working a WWE dark match, of Taz working a not dissimilar gimmick as the Tazmaniac. One day, Jungle Boy is going to work as the ripped, grizzled Jack Perry as he realises his destiny as North America's next great babyface.
And he'll change the business by reimagining it in his image as a top star. Inordinately sympathetic and prodigiously talented, Jungle Boy has already half-mastered the arts of electrifying the audience and pulling them into the emotional core of his matches. He gets that which cannot be taught, and he will use that as the platform to ascend to greatness.
Beyond that, AEW President Tony Khan recently forked out for the rights to schadenfreude Europop banger 'Tarzan Boy' by Baltimora. This is a tell - Jungle Boy is getting pushed in 2021 - with, vaccine rollout all going well, a packed-arena sing-along in mind. Think the Fandango craze, only with AEW actually committing to the push and not instructing Jerry Lawler to tell you "Isn't this great? We approached cultural relevance for one whole night!"
AEW has in effect patterned its philosophy around doing that which WWE can't or won't: unscripted promos, win/loss rankings, clean finishes.
Has Tony Khan recognised that WWE's in-house music dept. has deteriorated badly, and developed a new strategy to counter it?