AEW: 5 wrestlers with major star potential

1) Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.

Out of everyone on the list, Baker seems like the most surefire bet to be a megastar.

This is rather surprising considering just six months ago, fans were receiving her lukewarmly at best as a white-meat babyface. It may not have helped that as a face, she tried to incorporate flashier maneuvers that were/are probably not within her skillset just yet.

However, once she flipped the switch and became a heel by calling fans in Austin, TX “chubby, Whataburger faces” (and telling Schiavone he probably has “moderate to severe generalized gingivitis”), everything clicked.

Just listen to the vitriol she receives from fans for her fantastic heel promos.

As I mentioned in my “Booms/Duds” from last week, her vignette in the dentist’s office was really creepy, adding to her heel persona since she believes what she is doing is absolutely just and right. She not only understands how to be a bonafide heel, but how to incorporate her real-life dentistry experience into a viable wrestling character.

Those facial expressions she had in the match with Hikaru Shida above were well done. It’s almost as if seeing her own blood awakened some sort of maniacal entity in her. It just made her seem even more weird and possibly a sadomasochist.

Remember what I said about her move set as a face? Well, she hasn’t faced any issues as a heel (aside from a superkick that needs some work). She knows exactly how to make use of her dentistry knowledge in the ring and not just with her Lockjaw finisher. After “testing” it out on Yuka Sakazaki, it seems Baker has added the rope stomp(?) or molar stomp(?) to her repertoire as she used it to defeat Cassandra Golden.

Baker has gone from being what she probably thought people wanted her to be to now being a wrestler who is genuine to their character and experiences, comfortable in self. Her work as a heel is showing me that as a heel, she may fall into the category of “doesn’t need the title to be relevant.”

However, I do see a huge babyface championship run for Baker in 2021 or 2022. She has the charisma, promo ability, and look, and hopefully after more experience in the ring, she will also have the in-ring skillset to become a legitimate babyface character.

Those are my five. I even thought of adding Aubrey Edwards, but there tends to be more negatives than positives when referees become as popular as wrestlers so I decided against placing her on the list. The beauty of these kinds of discussions, however, is that pretty much any choice is defensible. The question now is: who are your five?