AEW RISING AND FADING STARS: Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone, Hangman Page and Jon Moxley, Lance Archer and Brian Cage

Hola mis amigos and amigas!

What a week for AEW, starting with Grand Slam Mexico and ending with Collision in the state of Washington. Both were star-studded events showcasing some of the best of CMLL on Dynamite and, of course, AEW on both shows. Collision had some extra star power with Jon Moxley and Swerve Strickland both wrestling.

To start with, anyone reading this should know I am a positive type fan when it comes to my wrestling. If I don’t like something, then I don’t watch their programming. To me, there is way too much tribalism in the world, especially in the world of pro wrestling. You can be critical of things you love and watch, but there is no reason to just hate watch something in 2025. Like what you like and build that up.

That said, this week’s column will be a little bit different and only have “Rising Stars.” One main reason is that Grand Slam Mexico was a different and special show that I would rather just talk positively about. Also, Collision had way more star power and pushed forward storylines because we are just three weeks away from All In Texas

So let’s get to this all Rising Stars list!

*This will be all AEW wrestlers. So, no, Mistico did not make the list despite his entrance being the best entrance I’ve seen this year.

Rising Stars of the Week

Mercedes Mone and Toni Storm

Taking into account Dynamite and Collision, I am not really sure who else this could be.

Let’s start with Mercedes. She became the first women to compete in Madison Square Garden, Tokyo Dome, Wembley Stadium, and now Arena Mexico. She truly is a worldwide star who just happens to be obsessed with collecting belts, obviously. This week she challenged for and won the CMLL Women’s Title after pinning Zeuxis for the title. I think that brings her the number of titles she holds to, roughly, 107. The match was decent, but the crowd made the match better, like most of the Grand Slam Mexico show.

Now Mercedes must turn her attention to her Co-Rising Star of the Week, Toni Storm who made her presence known with a fun video package before showing up in the ring behind Mercedes in the ring. Storm then hit a German suplex, sending Mercedes and all her belts flying.

On Collision, Storm then cut another Classic “Timeless” Toni Storm type of promo. She called out Mercedes for being so focused on other titles and asking if that was all Storm is to Mercedes. She asked if she is “just another title, another toy to play with.” That was followed up by the line of the night by Toni: “I am not some other motherf—er!”

What all this means is we are just three weeks away from the biggest AEW women’s match in the history of the company. That’s not hyperbole; it’s just the truth. These two will go out there and have a great match, but I’m curious to see what Storm and Mercedes have lined up for the next couple weeks of television.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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1st Runner-Up: “Hangman” Adam Page and Jon Moxley

Sorry for having two wrestlers again but right now, like Storm and Mercedes, you can’t really talk about one of these guys without talking about the other.

First, Hangman cut a promo that seemed to endear him to the entire crowd in Arena Mexico. It was very ballsy, for lack of a better word, to send Hangman out there to speak in Spanish for five minutes. You definitely risk having the English-speaking audience checking out. Personally, I had little to no clue what Hangman was saying, but with the way the crowd reacted, I think he pulled it off.

Hangman has really become one of the most popular stars over the last year, despite things he did in his feud with Swerve Strickland. It actually feels like both guys came out of that feud better off with the audience than when they went in. How it’s suppose to be, right?

Enough about the past, though, because the current feud for Hangman is with Jon Moxley and the Death Riders. I feel like it keeps ramping up and I am loving it.

While Jon Moxley may have secured the win for his team this past Dynamite, he is a much more dangerous man, in his win loss record, when he is alone. In 2025 he has 7 wins and 0 losses in singles matches and just 3 wins and 7 losses in tag matches. Do you know the last singles match he lost at an AEW only show? Mox lost to Jay White in a Continental Classic match at Dynamite 220 on Dec. 20, 2023. The other singles match Mox lost during an AEW broadcast was when he lost the IWGP World Title at AEW and NJPW Forbidden Door which took place on June 30, 2024. That means that Mox has not lost a singles match in almost a full year. Like I said, a dangerous man when he is alone.

Just one last thing. I wanted to give you the Jon Moxley vs. “Hangman” Adam Page history in the ring together:

• Dynamite 159 Mox, defending the AEW World Title, defeated Hangman by ref stoppage. Mox said afterward: “I hope and pray Hangman recovers 100 percent.” He was a different Mox.
• Dynamite 171 Hangman defeated Mox by pinfall. Hangman won after hitting his Buckshot Lariant
• Dynamite 174 Mox defeated Hangman after Hangman – yes Hangman – attempted a bulldog choke and was then rolled up by Mox.
• AEW Revolution 2023, “Hangman” defeated Mox in a Texas Death Match. I am sure we all remember how violent that was right until the end, a big contrast to the main event that night which was a 60 Minute Iron Man match for the AEW World Title between MJF and Bryan Danielson.

If you were counting, that means Hangman has 2 wins and Mox has 2 wins. Hangman has the most recent win but Mox has successfully defended the AEW World Title in a match against Hangman before and Mox. The match at All In Texas will be one hell of a rubber match.

2nd Runner Up: Lance Archer

As Rich Fann and Wade Keller have said, let’s go “off the beaten path” for this one.

Lance Archer got to perform in Arena Mexico this week which I would think was a career highlight for him. Have you ever dug into how many places Archer has worked during his 25 year career? Well, for those of you who didn’t live through it, he has wrestled for WWE, WWECW, TNA, All Japan, NJPW, AEW, and Pro Wrestling Noah. Holding tag titles in different promotions with various partners.

All that said, that’s not the reason he’s on the list.

On top of getting to perform in Arena Mexico, he, along with Brian Cage, have been cast in what will be a huge movie. Steven Spielberg is making another, still untitled, movie about aliens and we will all get to see a couple of familiar faces from AEW on the silver screen. While I’m sure it’s a small role, that’s a big get for both Archer and Cage. I for one will be excited to look for them when the movie comes out in 2026.