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The Star Wars universe is built on archetypes: the idealistic young hero, the cynical rogue, the wise old master, the fallen knight, the loyal companion, the comic sidekick, and the corrupt mastermind.
Like so many great storytellers, George Lucas drew upon mythology to create characters who feel larger than life and yet also instantly familiar. Those archetypes have endured because they reflect real people as well as story characters, making them recognizable to viewers. They represent personalities and roles that recur across generations and cultures.
Professional wrestling operates in a similar way. WWE’s best characters are rarely complicated at their core. We understand who they are, what they want, and how they are likely to respond when challenged. Individual details make them unique, but underneath are recognizable archetypes that audiences instinctively understand.
That similarity makes Lucas’s masterwork an apt comparison when evaluating WWE’s current roster. Some wrestlers have found characters that fit them as perfectly as a proton torpedo fits into the Death Star’s thermal exhaust port. Others appear to have been cast in roles that expose their vulnerabilities like stormtrooper armor.
This week, we examine which WWE stars are using the Force and which might be drifting toward the Dark Side.
A long time ago, in a wrestling ring far, far away…
Star Wars Rising Star: LA Knight as Han Solo
The swaggering rogue who trusts his instincts, plays by his own rules, and possesses enough charisma to make you forgive his selfishness and cocky mistakes.
LA Knight and Han Solo walk into any cantina or arena convinced they are the coolest guy in it. They usually convince the rest of us as well. Neither is a traditional white-meat hero. They are brash, sarcastic, disrespect authority, and not particularly interested in behaving the way heroes are supposed to. Tell either man that he’s taking too great a risk and you can practically hear him cry: “Never tell me the odds!”
Han has the Millennium Falcon and a blaster at his side. Knight has the microphone and the BFT. Han made the Kessel run in less than five parsecs. Knight is the only man to have held the TNA, NXT Tag Team, Million Dollar, and WWE United States championships.
Both are at their best when talking themselves into – or out of – trouble. Their bravado sometimes exceeds their actual ability, but that is part of what makes them entertaining. Even facing overwhelming odds or defeat, neither loses the swagger that made us want to follow him in the first place.
Most importantly, beneath the cynicism lies a fundamentally good person. Han insists he is looking out for himself, but when the moment matters, he comes back to help his friends. Knight similarly projects the attitude of a lone wolf without ever feeling like someone fans cannot trust. Ultimately, we know he’s going to be there when his friends needs him.
That is the sweet spot WWE should protect. Knight does not need to become inspirational, sentimental, or more conventionally heroic. Doing so risks sanding away precisely what makes him compelling. Han Solo is iconic in part because he’s no Luke Skywalker.
LA Knight is knocking it out of the park as a lovable scoundrel.
Yeah!
First Runner-Up: Rey Mysterio as Yoda
“Size matters not.”
No one in WWE history has demonstrated that lesson more convincingly than Rey Mysterio. Like Yoda, Rey is dwarfed by many of those around him, yet his stature has never kept him from greatness. Both became legends by possessing skills and abilities their larger opponents could barely understand, let alone duplicate.
At 51 years, Rey can still perform remarkably well athletically, but has reached the stage of his career where his greatest contribution is no longer proving what he can accomplish himself, but mentoring those who come after him. Yoda was once a great warrior as well. By the time Luke encounters him, however, his importance lies primarily in what he can teach.
Rey is approaching the same point. Another championship reign would add relatively little to his legacy. His greater value is as WWE’s master: the revered veteran whose credibility can be transferred to younger wrestlers simply by sharing the ring with them. Case in point: his affiliation with Chad Gable, Dragon Lee, and Penta, as well as his leadership of Team Mexico at the Survivor Series.
Rey’s fractured relationship with Dominik adds another dimension. Like Yoda watching his prize student Anakin fall to temptation, Rey has discovered that even the greatest teacher cannot determine what path his student – or son – will ultimately choose.
WWE should resist the temptation to treat Rey primarily as a nostalgia act. Cast as a respected on-screen mentor and a wise voice of experience, he is far more valuable.
The master does not need to defeat the apprentice to remain the master.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Second Runner-Up: Cody Rhodes as Luke Skywalker
The earnest young hero carrying the weight of his family’s legacy while attempting to become even greater than those who came before him.
Few comparisons fit Cody Rhodes better. Luke begins his journey defined by his father. So did Cody. For years, Dusty Rhodes’s enormous shadow hung over his son. Cody’s career became, in part, an effort to honor that legacy without simply becoming an imitation of it. His story of early frustrations, leaving WWE, reinventing himself, returning, and ultimately reaching the top transformed him from Dusty Rhodes’s son into an even greater success, a star with a legacy all his own.
Luke follows much the same path. Both are idealists in worlds filled with cynics. Both believe there is a right way to do things even when surrounded by people telling them otherwise. And both possess an earnestness that makes them endearing.
There is a danger, however, inherent in this archetype. Heroes often fall victim to temptation. Luke Skywalker is compelling because his goodness is constantly tested. The temptation to join his father on the Dark Side gives his virtue dramatic weight. A hero who is never seriously tempted into sin is hardly inspiring. When Palpatine entices him “I am defenseless; strike me down with all of your hate and your journey to the dark side will be complete,” he may as well have been daring Luke to punt him in the head. Ultimately Luke resisted, keeping himself on the hero’s path.
Cody Rhodes, it seems, has embraced a different path. In choosing to punt kick and presumably injure Randy Orton at Crown Jewel, Cody at last gave into his own hateful urges. On Raw he showed no regret. “I didn’t like it. I LOVED it!” This pronouncement may signal Cody’s own journey toward the dark side, a development that could make his character even more interesting. Will Cody finally live up to his Nightmare moniker and descend into darkness?
Third Runner-Up: Jacob Fatu as Darth Vader
Like Darth Vader, Fatu combines extraordinary physical power with an aura of barely contained violence. Neither needs to rant or explain why he is dangerous. Their appearance and mannerisms do most of the work. When Vader enters a scene, the atmosphere changes. Fatu has the same quality.
The comparison between the two is more than skin deep. Vader is not merely an unstoppable enforcer. He is a tragic figure whose loyalty to a powerful and malevolent master in Palpatine ultimately becomes his prison. Unlike the power-hungry lapdog Imperial officers which surround him, Vader is a man of principle who serves the empire because he mistakenly believes it’s the right thing. The Dark Lord of the Sith becomes far more interesting once we understand that the monster still possesses agency—and the will and power to turn on the master who has manipulated him.
That should be the model for Fatu. Fatu serves Roman Reigns not because he wishes to, but out of a sense of honor. His greatest long-term potential is not as the Bloodline’s attack dog. It is in the moment when the attack dog realizes he no longer needs a family, much less a master.
The physical tools are already extraordinary. WWE’s task is to build a character worthy of them.
Honorable mention: Becky Lynch as Princess Leia
Star Wars Fading Star: Otis as Chewbacca
Chewbacca is immensely strong, fiercely loyal, surprisingly expressive, and capable of being intimidating, lovable, and funny. Sound familiar? Otis shares the same qualities.
Unfortunately, WWE has too often emphasized the least important one: being funny. Chewbacca provides comic relief, but he is never just comic relief. He is an accomplished warrior, pilot, mechanic, and veteran of countless battles. When Chewie becomes angry, Stormtroopers have good reason to fear.
Otis once possessed that same balance. At his best, the comedy enhanced his character rather than defining it. Fans could laugh with him while still believing that underneath the eccentric personality was an enormously powerful athlete capable of flattening an opponent.
Over time, the balance has shifted. Too often, Otis is presented as a funny man who happens to be strong rather than a dangerous powerhouse who can sometimes be funny. That distinction matters.
Chewbacca works because the audience loves him but never forgets that he could rip your arms out of their sockets. Otis needs some of that danger restored. The answer is not eliminating his comedy. It is reminding us that the joke stops when the bell rings.
Oh, pairing him with a serious partner wouldn’t hurt either. Tozawa is too much of a comedic sidekick himself to fit the bill. Chewie works better with his partner Han, Otis was at his best paired up with a heel Chad Gable.
WWE should consider revisiting that formula.
First Runner-Up: Chelsea Green as C-3PO
Few WWE performers are better at reacting to danger than Chelsea Green. That makes C-3PO an almost perfect comparison. Both are theatrical, high-strung, perpetually aggrieved, and capable of treating relatively minor inconveniences as though the universe itself is collapsing around them.
Put C-3PO in danger and he panics. Put Chelsea Green up against a serious competitor – and she responds with comic alarm. It is tremendously entertaining.
It may be her ceiling. C-3PO is one of the most memorable characters in Star Wars, but nobody mistakes him for Luke Skywalker. His role is to provide personality, exposition, and comic relief while the real heroes drive the story.
Green is so effective at comedy that WWE risked putting her in a more serious role: a babyface champion. It unfortunately exposed her weakness. She is unable to enact the believable offense her role called for. Her Crown Jewel match with Liv Morgan called for Green to show fire and believability in her comebacks to get the crowd behind her. Sadly, she just couldn’t quite pull it off.
C-3PO suits his role perfectly without ever winning a lightsaber duel. Chelsea Green is a professional wrestler. If she is to have any hope of holding onto her current top spot, she’s got to show more.
Second Runner-Up: Paul Heyman as Emperor Palpatine
Paul Heyman is WWE’s version of Emperor Palpatine: neither possesses the physical strength to dominate others directly, so both maintain power by manipulating the ambitions, insecurities, and desires of those who do.
Palpatine went from Darth Maul to Count Dooku when his first apprentice fell, just as Heyman moved from Brock Lesnar to The Vision when Lesnar was no longer available. Both also demonstrated an uncanny ability to corrupt heroes, with Palpatine seducing Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side as Darth Vader and Heyman transforming Roman Reigns into the Tribal Chief.
Vader may have been Palpatine’s favorite apprentice, but when Luke Skywalker emerged as a more powerful prospect, the Emperor was perfectly willing to discard Vader and try to recruit Luke instead.
Heyman followed a similar playbook with his own favorite, Bron Breakker. When Breakker’s star was eclipsed by Oba Femi, Heyman abandoned his former protégé and turned his attention to seducing Femi.
But just as Palpatine’s scheme to recruit Luke ultimately led to his downfall, Heyman’s failed attempt to acquire Femi left him stripped of his influence and seemingly irrelevant.
Heyman remains one of WWE’s greatest assets, but his next chapter needs to move beyond simply finding another powerful wrestler to manipulate from ringside.
A mastermind this brilliant deserves a brand new scheme.
Dishonorable mention: Danhausen as Jar Jar Binks,
Runner-up (tie): Lucien Price, Bronco Nima, Carmelo Hayes, & Cruz Montana as Stormtroopers
