AEW RISING AND FADING STARS: MJF builds heel heat leading into Mistico match, Toni Storm shows she’s AEW’s top star, Swerve and Ospreay joust, La Faccion Ingobernable

Greetings and salutations fellow AEW fans!

Here are my Rising Stars and Fading Stars of the week following their Summer Blockbuster show.

Rising Star of the Week

MJF

Did you read my column last week? If not, then why not?! I’m kidding. Anyways, on the Fading Stars side, MVP was at the top of that list. Why? Because of his disjointed character trying to get cheers when he comes out and yet it feels like after that he’s been going full ’90s, almost, ECW-type heel mic work. It does not work for me. So, I lobbied for the Hurt Syndicate and MVP to lean on MJF. Well, this week I got my wish.

The first time we saw the rest of Hurt Syndicate they were beating down Kommander while MJF was holding Komander’s mask. That was followed up, later, by MJF going hard at Mistico, who is being set up on AEW television as CMLL’s biggest star. I wanted them to lean on MJF; they did; and it worked. I think there needs to be more MJF getting the crowd against the Hurt Syndicate. This week’s show in Mexico is going to be a lot of fun in part because of the work MJF has done the past two weeks.

Did anyone else like MJF’s ring attire this week? Or his little nods to early 2000’s MVP? I definitely enjoyed it. Just one more layer to MJF’s character on television. Now we need to see him wrestle more often. This coming episode of Dynamite (which is episode 297) will have MJF vs. Místico. It’s just MJF’s third Dynamite match of the year and the first time MJF has wrestled on back-to-back Dynamites since Dynamite 213 and 214 back in November 2023. I am here for more MJF.

1st Runner Up: (tie) Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay

I had to have some way of writing about one of my favorite wrestlers this week, oh and Will Ospreay, after that match they had on Dynamite. While the ending may have upset the crowd at first, this was all to tell the story after the match between Ospreay and Swerve.

To start, we got a PPV-quality match this week. It was worked at a deliberate pace to start but by the end was just a great match all the way around. Swerve and Ospreay have a lot of chemistry in the ring. Add to that Ospreay’s ridiculous video game move set and Swerve’s unlimited charisma and I think these two are destined to be wrestling for world titles for years to come.

That’s not what this story is about, though. It’s about Ospreay and Swerve teaming up to try to put a dent  in the armor that is the Death Riders and Founding Fathers (that’s what we are calling the Young Bucks now right?) super team. Ospreay taking a double super kick from shoes with tacks by the Founding Fathers, for Swerve, should form a strong bond with them going forward.

Now I’m just wondering what the next chapter is for this. Will Swerve and Ospreay go after the Bucks with a violence-for-violence type credo or will we get the calculated and sadistic version of Swerve now? I’m not sure, but they have me hooked.

Please just no dumb forced team name like “Aerial Swerve” or “Swerve Assassins.”

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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2nd Runner Up: “Timeless” Toni Storm

Tony Storm, a/k/a the Workhorse of AEW television. Toni is the obvious top woman of that division (sorry, not sorry Mercedes Moné). Toni chews up whatever “scene” she is in on Dynamite or Collision each week. She is also one of the people who started the turn, in my opinion, for this company last year. When you have a star like Toni who can wrestle anyone and talk the way she does, you put them on television every way.

So far this year Toni has 13 singles matches, and 13 wins of course. Any guess who might be near her with those numbers?  MJF has just two singles matches. How about Jon Moxley or Swerve Strickland? Nope they both have fewer than ten. “Hangman” Adam Page? Negative. While he is also undefeated, he has just nine singles matches total. Even non-main event guys like Kyle Fletcher and Daniel Garcia have only had nine singles matches this year. The only one who comes close is Will Ospreay who has 11 singles matches for AEW. See, she is the workhorse of AEW’s main event scene.

I haven’t even talked about the weeks Toni just talks on the mic or does commentary. It’s why she might be the biggest star they have on the entire roster. She is the total package (sorry, Lex Luger) and seems to just be getting better.

Fading Star of the Week

La Faccion Ingobernable

Yes, the entire faction. They will be the only fading stars this week but hey there is three of them.

For this one, I am going to do a better job of building these three up than AEW has done. Why? Because there is no reason any mix of the three of them couldn’t be built up as a viable tag team or trios team within the AEW world. Both divisions really need better focus.

The three of them are what feels like happens to guys who Tony Khan truthfully likes, but they just aren’t his favorite guys, so they get put on Collision, but rarely win against anyone above “jobber” status. Last week was the group’s first in-ring appearance on Dynamite in almost two years. Dralistico & Preston Vance, who is no longer a member of the faction, lost to Hook & Jack Perry back on June 7, 2023 but the current members have lost a lot on Collision, that’s for sure.

Let’s start with Rush. “You mess with the bull, you he the horns!” – the catchphrase behind the man, or on his trunks. I get it, though, because that phrase definitely fits Rush’s wrestling style. It’s brutal to watch, at times, because of how violent it looks. He comes across like a bull and it’s the reason he rose up the ranks in other companies. Did you know Rush was once a main event guy for CMLL and then ROH? He held the ROH World Title on two occasions. He worked with New Japan while they worked with CMLL back in 2015,  even bringing his faction Los Ingonanles to New Japan, where New Japan legend Tetsuya Naito joined the group.

Rush also competed in New Japan’s G1 Climax tournament and New Japan’s World Tag League. Losing a tag league match to a team named Black Dynamite, Shelton Benjamin & MVP.

So he has history across a brand owned by AEW, wrestlers within AEW, and one AEW works alongside in New Japan. He and this faction could easily be used weekly on Dynamite or Collision in a better way. Not many guys look like they could put Bobby Lashley or Samoa Joe on the mat, but Rush looks like that kind of guy.

How about that Dralistico? The traditional high-flying luchador of the group. Did you know he’s the original Dragon Lee before his brother took over the mask and name? Or that he donned the Mistico mask when Mistico left for WWE to become Sin Cara? So this guy, within CMLL, was considered a guy they could lean on. As with Bandido, they are wasting him. The Dralistico character is relatively young, but the guy behind the mask is in his prime. It’s time to start building his story in AEW.

Last but not least, The Beast Mortos. Mortos has a style much more like Rush – a snug, brutal-looking style. It’s why he’s gotten over with the AEW audience so much. Even in defeat, he does something that surprises the crowd. He works well with other high-flying luchadors. I am definitely a fan of him and know whenever he is losing on AEW television the match is going to be, at the least, entertaining. Sad that I have to say he’s going to lose if he’s in a singles match on AEW television, but it’s true. That’s why having him in a team or trio is the way to go.