Predicting Where Every AEW Wrestler Will Be In 5 Years' Time

37. Proud N' Powerful

Santana Ortiz
AEW

Quite possibly the next World Tag Team Champions, Santana and Ortiz still have the potential to become even better than they are - and they are at present a great team that can play heel and babyface with equal aplomb. They're in AEW to do great things. Go back and watch the 2019 Full Gear Countdown show for proof of their incredible babyface potential.

Santana in particular has pitched several brilliant main event subplots and upper midcard attractions. Expect him to be groomed as a potential head booker beyond 2026, by which point his team will have become AEW legends.

36. PAC

PAC AEW
AEW

F*cking pandemic and its travel restrictions. PAC should be wrestling on television as much as Bryan Danielson, but his situation means that his is a fitful presence.

Once this f*cking sh*t is finally behind us, PAC should win the TNT Title and execute a particularly cruel subversion of the Open Challenge.

By 2026...lads, it's PAC. If anybody is worthy of the 'Bob Holly run', it's him.

35. Paul Wight

Paul Wight AEW
AEW

Would AEW be any different, at all, had he not signed?

His signature felt more like a way of legitimising AEW than anything else, and he won't have come cheap, so it's rather easy to picture AEW allowing him to enter the WWE Hall of Fame and attendant representative role with no hard feelings.

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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!