AEW RISING AND FADING STARS: This long-running faction would benefits from everyone breaking up and going separate ways, another rising star continues to impress

Welcome everyone!!!

We will be 21 days into Darby Allin’s AEW World Championship reign when we get to Dynamite and you can’t say it’s been boring. Another brutal match last week with Brody King just made both guys look great. Now he turns to a completely different kind of wrestler in Kevin Knight (more on him later).

Despite a common spring slip in the ratings, I feel Dynamite has not slowed down. The Ospreay and Death Riders story is compelling. Cage & Copeland’s quest for the AEW Tag Titles is a perfect spot for the legendary tag team. Unhinged MJF is fun to watch. And Darby really is going to ride this wave until the wheels fall off, it seems.

Let’s look back at who I thought looked the best, and maybe worst, this week.

RISING STAR OF THE WEEK

“THE JET” KEVIN KNIGHT

I really was not sure anyone else could be atop the list this week other than Kevin Knight. Two successful TNT Title defenses over four days against Hook and MJF is a pretty good week, not to mention he now has a shot at Darby Allin and his AEW World Championship on Dynamite.

Knight might have been an emergency replacement champion due to injury, but his reign doesn’t feel that way. He looks, walks, and wrestles like a star. All he is missing is confidence on the mic, which I think can come.

Personally, I think that part will come for him, much like Swerve Strickland, when Knight turns heel. While two different kind of wrestlers and talkers, the comparison has merit. Swerve did show up on AEW as a fully-fledged character. He was allowed time to get across to AEW who he is, and he’s done that successfully. Like I said before, Knight has most things down but not the talking. In Knight’s defense, he hasn’t been given the chance all that often to get better. It feels like this title right is giving him that opportunity to, hopefully, grow.

I also think they are laying future story’s down with Knight right now. This Wednesday will be his second shot at the AEW World Championship over 10 weeks. I don’t think he will be the one to dethrone Darby Allin, but Darby lost three AEW World Title matches before finally winning the big one. Either way, the future looks bright for “The Jet” Kevin Knight (but maybe drop the third-person references on the mic).

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

FADING STAR OF THE WEEK

The Bang Bang Gang

First, their name is ridiculous and should be changed immediately. The talent within the group has what it takes to be weekly fixtures on AEW television, but that name is atrocious.

I get that Collision is doing better with having some connective tissue to Dynamite. That said, it’s still the obvious B-show. So if you are bringing back someone who is a former AEW World Tag Team Champion, why would you bring them back on Collision?

Colton Gunn made his return, alongside his brother Austin, during a run-in to save fellow Bang Bang Gang (ugh it sounds so dumb) members Ace Austin and Juice Robinson. I don’t get why they would have him return there instead of in some kind of match on Dynamite. It just feels a little meh.

Juice Robinson has just kind of been hanging around with Ace Austin during the time the Gunns have been away. Sadly, not doing much and being one of 73 guys trying to get at Jon Moxley and The Death Riders.

Ace Austin’s introduction to AEW has gone awry, as well. This is a guy who can easily get over with the AEW crowd. Ace has just not been given the chance. Plus, having a guy with the last name Austin in a group with another guy whose first name is Austin doesn’t work. Ace is better at being the leader of a group over being just another guy.

When Jay White returns, will he be treated like the big deal he should have been for years now? I fear as long as the Bang Bang Gang is a thing, White and Ace will not flourish.

Again, this is a group where I think breaking them all apart would benefit everyone. The Gunns being added to a really good tag division right now makes sense. Juice Robinson as a crazy guy alongside Jay White works, so keep them together as a tag team or singles guys who are friends. Then Ace Austin should, at the minimum, be trying to get into one of the single titles divisions. Ace as National Champ or TNT Champ works because what’s going on with him right now is not working.