AEW has gone all in on Kyle Fletcher

Competing as part of the tag team, Aussie Open, at the inaugural AEW WrestleDream show, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis would come up short in their effort to capture the AEW tag team titles, against the current champions, FTR. On top of coming up short in their bid to win AEW tag team gold, Mark Davis, Fletcher's long-time tag team partner, also suffered a broken wrist during the match, which would keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.

While losing a tag team partner can sometimes land the healthy member of the tag team in pro wrestling purgatory, either racking up losses in singles matches or not being booked altogether, Fletcher received opportunities to go one-on-one with some of the best wrestlers that AEW had to offer. After strong showings against Bryan Danielson, Kenny Omega, and Konosuke Takeshita, it was abundantly clear that AEW had something in Kyle Fletcher as a singles performer.

Fletcher used his strong showings to earn a run as the Ring of Honor Television Champion as well as continued opportunities to shine as a single competitor on both AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision. Fletcher continued to hone his craft against the likes of Chris Jericho, Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, Kazuchika Okada, and MJF. Despite taking losses in all of these high-profile matches, the young Aussie was becoming undeniable and seemed poised for a breakthrough performance.

Kyle Fletcher got his breakthrough moment at AEW Full Gear.

Despite Kyle Fletcher's excellent matches, he remained in the extremely large shadow of his best friend, Will Ospreay. Fletcher stepped out of that shadow at AEW WrestleDream on October 12th by severing the relationship with his longtime friend. Ospreay was defending his AEW International Championship on this night in a three-way bout versus Ricochet and Konosuke Takeshita. Takeshita would win the International Title by pinning Ospreay after Kyle Fletcher turned on Ospreay, hitting him in the head with a screwdriver. This would lead to a program between Fletcher and Ospreay, and ultimately Kyle Fletcher's career-defining match against Ospreay at AEW Full Gear.

While the match at AEW Full Gear was extremely important in the elevation of Kyle Fletcher, so too was the build preceding the match. Fletcher was given time to cut promos by himself and also duel Ospreay on the microphone as well. This was not something that the AEW audience had seen much of from Fletcher in his time in the promotion, and Fletcher more than held his own, showing the world he was more than just an uber-talented in-ring worker.

Even after Fletcher had secured the biggest singles victory of his career, pinning Will Ospreay clean at AEW Full Gear, AEW fans were not convinced that Fletcher's ascent in the promotion would continue. And it was hard to blame them for that feeling. It is hard to keep track of all the talented, young performers who seemed to be on their way to the top of the card after big wins or just for being consistently over with the AEW crowds, only to have their momentum halted by AEW's booking. There were times that Wardlow, Ricky Starks, Hook, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Konosuke Takeshita all looked poised to become major players at the top of the card, only to have their momentum fizzled out by poor booking, or in some cases, discontinued booking altogether.

However, this would not be the case with Kyle Fletcher. Fletcher took the momentum he gained by beating Will Ospreay and has rolled that into a perfect 3-0 record in the Blue League of the Continental Classic. And it is not just the number of wins that makes this impactful, it is who Fletcher has beaten on his way to those nine points. Fletcher has beaten The Beast Mortos, Shelton Benjamin, and Kazuchika Okada in the highly prestigious tournament, proving that he is no one-hit wonder.

How far Kyle Fletcher can go in the world of professional wrestling remains to be seen. But a few things are undeniable. Fletcher has all the physical tools to make him one of the top in-ring performers in the world, regardless of the promotion. Fletcher's abilities paired with AEW seemingly being all in on pushing the young Australian star bodes well for Fletcher no longer being thought of as a future star in AEW. If Fletcher continues to get these opportunities we may be looking at someone who will be a mainstay at the top of the card for years to come and in the conversation for 2025 pro wrestler of the year.