5 Wrestlers Who Will Get Over In AEW (And 5 Who Won't)

8. Joey Janela WILL...

Orange Cassidy
Scott Lesh

The thing about judging a performer through the lens of one critic is that you only see one skewed version of them: to some, 'Jelly' Janela is a pasty garbage hack who does stupid sh*t to get over because that's all he has.

Those who have actually paid attention were suspicious, too, and if Cain Velasquez caught flak for his physique, under wrestling's perception-is-reality premise, Joey Janela was hardly going to escape that criticism. It seems as if he's taken the criticism as fair, and worked to define his body ahead of his Dynamite debut proper. This will help, but it's not as if Janela needs it to star as a midcard act: he is a very witty, expressive, creative performer with a real tank. Just because it can't be seen, it doesn't mean it isn't there.

Janela can work plunder brawls both hilarious and harrowing, successfully worked wrestling's trickiest stipulation in an Iron Man match with David Starr that earned rave reviews earlier this year, and has that inspired creativity to work unworkable matches, against invisible men, that only the truly gifted can pull off.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!