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

7. Brandon Cutler WON'T...

Orange Cassidy
Scott Lesh

Brandon Cutler is a geek, in real life, his wrestling persona, and in the context of Bryan Alvarez's famous catchphrase~.

He was promoted on Being The Elite as an incredibly nice, earnest family man who cosplays in his spare time, and was handed two professional contracts in a heartwarming moment by childhood friends the Young Bucks. This storyline took a heartbreaking turn on the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite, on which he was booked to botch his big moment: he fell off the top turnbuckle, and was promptly submitted by his nemesis MJF in under three minutes.

He showed the requisite babyface fire with a great suicide dive variation on the Lou Thesz press, but not enough. By design, this was a total humiliation: the pretext to a redemptive story arc. There are two glaring problems, if in fact this wasn't a very selfless, one-and-done angle to get MJF over as a dominant piece of sh*t.

MJF has already Billy Gunn'd Hangman Page, who with respect has far more potential than Cutler; at Double Or Nothing, MJF's blow-away charisma and wit framed Page as lacklustre in comparison. In the meantime, AEW is clearly mapping a similar road for Kenny Omega. Cutler's story may come off as a diminished retread, and it requires an organic connection to pull off.

The DC crowd hardly threw everything behind him.

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!