AEW RISING & FADING STARS: Is it over for Wardlow after the latest crushing injury? Are wrestlers getting pushes because of who they’re dating?

Welcome everyone!

Another week of AEW has gone by and we are just two weeks from All Out in Canada. So let’s look back and see how I felt this week came off.

First, if you read my column recently, I compared “Hangman” Adam Page to Bret Hart and Kyle Fletcher to HBK – just with how they are being built as characters, not their in ring style. Now it looks like we might be getting a Survivor Series 1992 type match at All Out – AEW World Champion Hangman vs. TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher. Love this.

If you missed Collision, then you missed a lot:

•Big Bill calling out a fellow New Yorker in Eddie Kingston.

•Fletcher challenging Hangman. Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin in a coffin match became official.

•Toni Storm’s AEW Women’s World Title will be defended in a four-way match against Thekla, Kris Statlander, and Donna from “That 70’s show,” I mean Jaimie Hayter.

•MJF telling Mark Briscoe to choose the time, All Out, and the stipulation, after which Briscoe told MJF he would get back to him on that.

Catch up on all those happenings with our detailed Collision report by Joshua White. It turns out, not many of you watched, according to the ProWrestling.net report: Collision Viewership. Yikes!

Let’s get to this week’s list!

Rising Star of the Week

Konosuke Takeshita

-NJPW G1 Climax Winner

-6 Straight wins in AEW and NJPW

I know, you and I were both worried about Takeshita losing against Mark Briscoe on Collision. In the end, he didn’t win cleanly, because of MJF, but he still won.

As I said last week, the babyface side needs some fresh faces in the main event scene. Darby and now Eddie Kingston help, but we all know Takeshita is ready-made for that position. His win against Briscoe was not what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised. Then when he got in MJF’s face for attacking Briscoe after the match, it got me even more excited for his turn.

While it will be hard to fully push Takeshita if he is going back and forth between New Japan and AEW, I am hopeful. One reason for that hopefulness is he won the G1 Climax Tournament and Takeshita wants his NJPW World Title match against Zach Sabre Jr now.

That makes me hopeful it will be a quick one-off and after Takeshita will be a fixture on AEW television going forward. He has an everything needed to be in the main events of AEW shows. Now he just needs to be around to capitalize on it.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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Fading Star of the week

Alex Windsor

-3 losses in a row to Mercedes

-3 wins and 5 losses in last 8 matches

First, this was said about another wrestler a few weeks ago, in this very column, so I have to bring it up. What I am referencing is the Beast Mortos getting main event tTVv matches the week after it came out about he and one Mercedes Mone being in a relationship.

So it has to be said that Windsor’s relationship with Will Ospreay might be affecting her push on television. She’s been in two TNT Title matches in two weeks. The issue is though that, just like Mortos, it has not given Windsor any wins. So it really feels like Windsor is on television so much because of who she is dating.

Windsor has now been on the losing end of three straight matches involving Mercedes Mone. Windsor lost a six-woman tag match at a Rev Pro event in England, so she couldn’t go over even in her own country. Then Windsor lost the four-way at Forbidden Door. Windsor then won a squash match on Collision before losing to Mone, again, when challenging for the TBS Title.

My issue, other than the constant screaming of “Windsor,” is that she keeps losing to anyone that is above her in the pecking order. Windsor needs some big wins over credible opponents; otherwise, she is just the Challenger of the Month for Mone. It’s also possible that damage has already been done to her overall.

Hey, maybe Windsor is finally on the winning side against Mone this week. On Dynamite it will be Windsor and Rhio against Mone and Emi Sakura, the woman who trained Riho. I can’t see Riho losing in her first match in AEW 14 months, but Mone almost never loses.

1st Runner Up: Wardlow

-1 PPV and 1 Dynamite appearance over the last 12 months

-0 Matches or Mic time during that time period

Well, this one is a sad one. It was nice to have the big man back for that short amount of time. If you didn’t hear it came out that Wardlow is injured….again. PWTorch editor Wade Keller was first to report exclusive details. It appears the injury could keep him out of action for a few weeks to a few months.

So, for a guy that lots of people thought would be on the higher end of the card by this point in AEW, it’s just been one misstep or injury after another. At some point, when you make multiple big returns, the shine wears off. Unless he undergoes a drastic change, we may never get to see the full potential of Wardlow.

But maybe American Gladiators will be a big hit and make him a star. Hey I said maybe!