5 Most Sympathetic Babyfaces In AEW

Making Riho sympathetic should be something of an open goal for AEW. An athlete her size is dwarfed by Dr Britt Baker, let alone a monster like Nyla Rose. She’s forever fighting from underneath. But there’s more to Riho than her diminutive stature. There are performance touches she uses to enhance her relationship with the crowd.

The way she wobbles on the top ropes makes her position look even more precarious; we watch, willing her to keep her balance. She manages to convince us that she can beat her bigger opponents, if the crowd in the arena just believes in her. Written down that reads like a lame pro wrestling Tinkerbell but her performances get it over.

Plus she’s smart. She wriggles out of pinning combinations and reverses submission attempts into roll-ups but she never “steals one,” she recognised her limitations and works tactically within them to outdo her larger rivals. Because she isn’t stupid, the audience isn’t made to feel stupid for believing in her.