The Secret Genius Behind AEW’s Talent Roster
But that undercard exists to accentuate the Omegas, the Moxleys, the Pages. That undercard is also largely unstigmatised by the leftover residual WWE stench.
Independent standout Jungle Boy is just 22 years old. Skinny and raw, but engaging and stylish, his untapped charisma, babyface guile and pretty-boy looks set him apart as both a potential hit in the female demographic and a veritable sympathy generator, when a Jon Moxley or an MJF thrashes him.
On the subject of MJF, pro wrestling’s next big super-heel in-waiting, he, at just 23 years old, can withstand losses to the stars. If anything, a poor win/loss record, one that betrays his blackly hilarious hype game, creates scope for real character development—a renewed motivation to unleash the vicious sociopath within.
Darby Allin is similar to—but crucially, also distinct from—Jungle Boy. He generates sympathy not through traditional babyface fire but a do-or-die approach. Equipped with an intriguing and marketable alt-look, this psycho-bumper can lose, and will make his senior opponents look like formidable killers when he does. Luchasaurus is a real, physical beast, but his character is that of a dinosaur. It’s a head-turning act, but one that rests firmly in midcard territory. And that’s fine. That is necessary.
On the heel side, Peter Avalon is an eminently punchable performer, and should exist, initially, to provide a mini-burst of catharsis. The cocky Sammy Guevara, too, is an act of more promise than credentials.
Progressive and sports-oriented, AEW is, on the surface, drastically removed from WWE’s lionised Attitude Era. But as a genuine youth movement, there is a freshness to everything that may yet compel fans, in this over-stuffed content era, to receive the product as a brand new thing unmissable in its unprecedented intrigue.
CONT'D...(3 of 5)