AEW RISING AND FADING STARS: Is Daniel Garcia on the right track now? Is Fletcher still on the rise or showing signs of fading? Is it Hobbs’s time?

Welcome everyone!

I hope I didn’t lose a bunch off you after my rant last week. Then AEW and Darby Allin doubled down as he ended the show with a flame thrower while trying to get Jon Moxley to agree to an I Quit match. To quote a wrestler who is known for his fired up promos….”whatever.”  Which is not the reaction AEW should be trying to stir up.

Anyways, before the six year anniversary Dynamite kicks off there was 4 hours of AEW television that actually didn’t involve fire last week. Let’s see how I felt about it.

Rising Star of the Week

Kyle Fletcher

• TNT Champion for 81 Days(so far)
• 3 successful TNT title defenses

Well for lack of a better pick, and maybe there isn’t one right now, Fletcher is atop the Rising Star of the Week list again.

Fletcher has quickily established himself again as a dominate champion after the loss to AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page. He defeated Kommander on Collision and, prior to the match, attacked and injured Hologram.

Back on Dynamite last week he cut another above average promo hyping his title match this week with Hologram. Now that Hologram is injured, a much bigger test has been put in front of Fletcher in Orange Cassidy.

This should be the main event of the anniversary Dynamite show. O.C. and Fletcher should also have a great match with Fletcher winning in the end. The question will be if he does it alone or do his Don Callis Family brothers help him out.

Either way, I’m happy to say his full name! Kyle Fletcher.

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1st Runner Up: Daniel Garcia

• Newly turned heel and is in one of the more over factions.
• Winner of 4 out of his last 5 matches.
• A staple of both Dynamite and Collision most week

How quickly you can turn everything around in my eyes with a good heel turn. If you have read my column before, you know I have not been a huge fan of Garcia for a while now. The new look and attitude has helped change that.

Garcia looks like a pit bull and is quickly being established as Jon Moxley’s number three, behind Mirina Shafir. All they need to do is continue this and a heel Garcia vs. (hypothetically) Hangman in a few months would feel right.

Garcia moving forward just needs to continue developing this new persona. He stomped Daddy Magic’s head into the mat on Dynamite, so that’s a main guy from his past down. Curious to see how he fares in the six-man match against Hangman, Samoa Joe, and Powerhouse Hobbs. Garcia should get the win for his team, in my opinion. It’s just who does he beat.

Honorable Mention: Kris Statlander

I like what a Stat did in response to the Death Riders this week. My only question on is this: Will she turn on Darby and actually join the Death Riders this week? Just a thought I had when I saw this match on the card.

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Fading Star of the Week

Powerhouse Hobbs

I know Powerhouse Hobbs is a Trios Champion right now, but we all know those are the titles that have the least amount of prestige on them.

Hobbs was a guy that the AEW fans chose as one of their guys early on in his stint with AEW. It’s why he got a name change and was a part of Team Taz. Since then there has been little progression.

Hobbs is an impressive looking human. The look part is not the issue. The issue is that it feels like I’m at my local independent show when he’s on my television. He has the over-the-top snarl that comes off as Indy-rific, not a guy who is looking to rise up the card.

I am really not sure what would be best for him other than to work more often, especially in singles matches. This is one of the issues with AEW not running house shows and not using ROH how it should be used, as AEW’s NXT. A guy like Hobbs would benefit from going and working ROH as a top singles guy to see if he has it. Otherwise he’s just going to be stuck where he is now. A guy the crowd kind of likes but doesn’t really know.