AEW RISING AND FADING STARS: Kyle Fletcher is due to a title, MJF helping Hurt Syndicate get over as heels, Sky strengthens mid-card, Garcia without momentum, Shelton misused

Welcome everyone!

Well, after a subpar week of shows, it felt like AEW was back on top of their game this week. We are less than a week from All In Texas and it feels like everything is peaking at the right time for this show. Just two more shows before the big show and I, for one, can’t wait until we get the July 12.

Let’s get to my list!

Rising Star of the Week

Kyle Fletcher

Yes! Yes! Yes! What happened on Collision is exactly what needed to happen.

First, we got Fletcher coming out and cutting a promo with no Don Callis, across from Adam Cole, looking like, sounding like, and acting like a heel. Fletcher doesn’t try to pop the crowd and be a cool heel. He comes off as an arrogant ass who knows how good he is in the ring, which is exactly what a wrestler who could be a top star should be acting like. He feels like a more violent, very early heel HBK. Yeah, I said it. Just give this kid a mirror and Scary Sherri on his arm.

That said, a lot has to go right for Fletcher to reach his full potential. First will be finally putting the death nail on this terrible TNT Title run by Adam Cole. Second will be that he needs to be careful in the ring. His offense looks so violent and almost dangerous. Maybe it actually isn’t, but on this past Collision he hit a nasty looking brainbuster on Daniel Garcia to earn the TNT Title shot. Couple that with him almost dropping Cole on his head on the “hardest part of the ring” a few weeks back it makes me wonder if he’s a little sloppy. But nothing has come out saying he is so, maybe it just looks rough and, if so, then I love it.

Here is to hearing Justin Roberts say these words at All In Texas: “The winner of this match and NEEEEEWWWWWW TNT Champion, Kyle Fletcher.”

1st Runner Up: MJF

Alright, so I wrote in my column a few weeks back that I felt MVP needed to lean on MJF’s heel work to try to actually get the Hurt Syndicate over as heels. I think that has happened.

Working backwards, we had MJF show up on Collision this week, alongside MVP. They both cut a promo on the Tony Khan Tron after a six-man match that was won by the team of Hologram, Mark Briscoe, and Mistico. MJF then cut a promo on Mark Briscoe, a feud that MJF has actually been trying to have and lobbied Tony Khan for. Then MJF went after Mistico, followed up by MVP cutting a promo on Mistico in Spanish. While it was all “paint by numbers” stuff, it helped move the feuds forward. Mistico, Briscoe, and MJF are all scheduled for the gauntlet match at All In Texas.

Earlier in the week, we had MJF in a match on Dynamite (something becoming less rare). MJF came out victorious in a four-way match to determine the number 2 entrant in the Gauntlet match as he defeated Brody King, Anthony Bowens, and A.R. Fox, ultimately defeating Fox. Surprisingly, this just now gets MJF’s 2025 record above 0.500 this year as he now has 3 wins and 2 losses. I am curious to see that record in a few months.

So the stage is now set up for a face-to-face between the number 1 and 2 Casino Gauntlet entrants Briscoe and MJF this week on Dynamite. Then we will just be days from All In Texas where the match takes place. This should be fun.

2nd Runner Up: Scorpio Sky

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s Scorpio Sky?!

Where the hell has Sky been?! While he has been wrestling on the independents this year, he hasn’t been lighting the Indy’s on fire as he has just 4 wins and 4 losses. That said, he is now undefeated in 2025 AEW.

I found it very smart to bring Sky back at a California show because you could hear the love he got. It’s crazy to think one of the early staples of AEW television, part of the first ever AEW World Tag Team champs with So Cal Uncensored (SCU), and the 9th-ever TNT Champ, has not been on AEW television since the 14th ever Collision back in 2023.

I don’t think Sky will be destined for the AEW World Title, but I think his new faction consisting of Christopher Daniels, in what looks like a managerial role, and Top Flight is perfect to bolster the mid-card. If you remember, I am big on building the mid-card. To me, it’s what made the mid-to-late ’90s pro wrestling so good. They tried to make you care about everyone on the card, not just a select few at the top.

Whatever happens, this was a successful return for Sky. Like everything in wrestling the follow up will be the key. He should definitely show up at All In Texas in the Gauntlet match, if anything to see the reaction from the crowd and go from there. Hopefully this won’t be a one off and he doesn’t get regulated to ROH.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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Fading Star of the Week

Daniel Garcia

Okay, to start, I don’t see what everyone else sees in Daniel Garcia. Yes Garcia is solid in the ring and solid on the mic but that doesn’t make you a future main event talent, in my opinion. They tried to make him the heart of AEW, but I think that has been moved on to bigger stars like Hangman Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, and Will Ospreay. Frankly those three men are the heartbeat of the company on the men’s side.

Garcia lost the TNT title back in April at Dynasty but he hasn’t been treated as a former champion since and wasn’t really treated as a champion prior. Garcia won the TNT title in November and in the final month plus of 2024 he had 4 wins and 2 losses. Then the calendar flipped and in 2025 he has 11 wins and 11 losses. Including 3 wins and 4 losses since losing the title. How is a 50/50 winning percentage a champion? It makes no sense. Especially when the women’s version, the TBS title, Mercedes Mone is undefeated in over a year.

Garcia is another guy I would lobby should be in the tag division with someone like Adam Cole. They are popular enough with most of the fanbase that it bolsters the tag division, which needs more teams doing battle to get to the AEW World Tag titles. Garcia as TNT champ was another failed attempt to get him and that title back over.

1st Runner Up: Shelton Benjamin

Like last week in my column when I wrote about Athena this one might be on Tony Khan more than the wrestler I am talking about.

Did anyone else watch Collision and see that they wasted Shelton Benjamin’s first loss in AEW during a three-way match involving him, Nick Wayne, and Kevin Knight? I am sorry to say, but this felt so much like WWE booking. The champion loses a match before defending their title at the upcoming PPV. I also don’t get it why Benjamin had to be the one pinned. He didn’t need to be involved in the finish and it would have still given the winner, Knight, a boost.

So heading into All In Texas, I guess, the idea is that JetSpeed now has momentum despite on back to back Dynamites Benjamin and Bobby Lashley absolutely destroyed both of them. Not to mention the way MVP reacted to them wanting a title shot a few weeks back. If you need a reminder he absolutely embarrassed them by just over the top laughing at them. Since then Tony Khan has done nothing to make anyone think JetSpeed has a chance against The Hurt Syndicate. Especially since the 3 way match was basically dominated by Benjamin and it took both Knight and Wayne working together before both hitting finishers on Benjamin to win.

Going into All In Texas, unless they do something on the go home shows, I don’t see anything happening other than the Hurt Syndicate mauling JetSpeed. The sad part is that the crowd will probably love every single minute of it because until they present a team on Benjamin & Lashley’s level people are just going to cheer the cool guys.