Okay AEW, this is your big chance to get back on top.
You’ve had a bit of a rocky year with all those extra belts, and crazy booking decisions, and that one weird press conference (which I’m sure everybody has already forgotten about by now), but hey: new year, new you.
Sure WWE has somehow managed to claim the mantle of “new wrestling hotness” from you despite existing for more than three decades, but rumor is that Vince is looking to slink his way back into Triple H’s chair-throne, so this is your chance.
And what better way to give yourself a brand new makeover than by pushing some people who might have been overlooked this year?
AEW’s roster is deep, but largely unplumbed, so it’s time to put your diving suit on and go swimming.
Here are seven wrestlers Tony Khan could (and should) push in 2023.
7. Keith Lee
When Keith Lee first joined AEW in February of this year, I think it’s safe to say that people expected the company to do a little more with him.
That’s not to say they haven’t treated him well: he’s already been AEW World Tag Team Champion with Swerve, and he gets a good amount of TV time.
But like… he’s Keith Lee.
The guy who squared up to Brock Lesnar at the Rumble. The guy who ended Adam Cole’s Reign and held both the NXT and North American Championships at the same time. The big boi himself.
Like a lot of people who were added around that six month period, Lee feels like the kind of person who should have immediately been main evening pay-per-views and starting singles feuds.
There are so many upper-card matchups that we haven’t gotten yet, and I just… I want them, okay?
Lee vs Joe. Lee vs Cole. Lee vs Danielson.
The list is limitless.
6. Bryan Danielson
Is this controversial? It feels controversial, but I’m not sure why, because he definitely belongs on this list.
When Bryan Danielson arrived at AEW All Out 2021, along with Adam Cole and shortly after CM Punk, it shook the wrestling landscape to its core.
The man had just main evented WrestleMania that same year, and the guys he faced then were still some of the biggest names in the whole industry.
And then he… had some good matches and joined a stable with like four other people. Which is fine, but… why?
I’d characterize what Danielson has received as an anti-push, and that’s no shade on the company.
Danielson has made it clear that he wants to put over as many people as possible before his retirement before he retires, and while that’s noble (in theory), it has the side-effect of cooling him off massively as a time when the main thing AEW needs is heat (like the popularity kind, not the X-Pac kind).
It feels weird to say that one of the most over men in the history of wrestling needs a push, but that’s exactly where Danielson is at.
Push him into the title picture; push him into the main event; push him to accept the fact that he’s Bryan freaking Danielson, and get him to say “yes” to a more prominent place in your company.
5. Ricky Starks
We always knew Starks was good, but his feud with MJF really drove home just how good he is.
He can talk, and he can do flips, and he looks good when he does those flips, and that’s basically all I ask for from my wrestlers.
Post-MJF, Khan would do well to capitalize on Starks’ momentum by strapping a rocket to him.
At the very least, he needs to be in contendership for one of the promotion’s big boy singles titles, which at this point I guess is just the TNT Championship (sorry All-Atlantic, maybe one day).
He doesn’t necessarily need a championship to help his ascent to the top, but it would give him an excuse to have a lot of short feuds where he gets to verbally dismantle his opponents, and that’s all I really need from him.
His program with Powerhouse Hobbs was very well-received, if a little and anti-climactic – maybe it’s time for round two?
Or maybe he’d be better served going up against a Jon Moxley or a Bryan Danielson, to prove he can hang with some of the best AEW has to offer.
4. The Dark Order
After the passing of Jon Huber, aka Mr Brodie Lee, the Dark Order were pretty much cemented as one of the most over babyface factions in AEW.
Unfortunately, over time, the group’s story became so intermingled with that of Hangman Adam Page that it became difficult for them to shine on their own, and they’ve since faded from the spotlight a little and become another in an endless parade of AEW factions.
Believe it or not, the Dark Order was the group who got me to check AEW out in the first place (I’m a sucker for cult stuff) so I have a vested interest in getting my boys back in pole position.
This works on two levels, where you can either push the group as a whole as a dominant babyface stable, without centering the whole thing around one guy who isn’t always associated with them (sorry Page, but you’ve had your go).
Or you can push members who haven’t really gotten a look in, using the group to elevate one or two members as singles guys which in turn will elevate the entire stable.
You know what that means: make Evil Uno AEW World Champion, you cowards.
3. Darby Allin
Darby Allin is kind of a weird case (both in terms of his place on the card and just like, as a dude), because there hasn’t really been a time when he hasn’t held a prominent position in the company.
He was CM Punk’s first match back, he had a show stealing match with MJF at Full Gear last year, and he gets to hang out with his dad Sting on a regular basis.
But here’s the thing: he lost that match with CM Punk. And MJF. And if we’re being honest, as cool as Sting and Allin are together, their partnership has less of a mentor/mentee vibe than it does a Dr Evil/Mini Me vibe (that’s not an insult – those movies hold up).
Allin is always going to be over, but in terms of booking he feels like he’s just sort of floating around, always available for a cool match but rarely there for a meaningful one.
In 2023, I want to see him in a couple of single feuds, where he gets on the mic and fleshes out his character a little beyond “guy who bums smokes on Urbis circa 2006.”
He’s had the TNT title, sure, but by this point he should be in meaningful conversation for the big belt (even if it’s a little while before he gets to wear it). Let’s see if we can at least start to get him there next year.
2. Miro
You remember that episode of The Simpsons where Bart wins an elephant in a joke radio contest, but then tries to get them to send him one anyway by jumping up and down in front of their studio shouting “where’s my elephant?”.
That’s kind of how I feel whenever I bring up Miro in one of these articles.
Where’s my Bulgarian Beast with a neck made of wet spaghetti, Tony? Why must you insist on keeping him from me? Bring me Miro, Tony.
In all seriousness though, Miro hasn’t wrestled since All Out in September, and before that it was June.
I know the AEW roster has gotten pretty big, but if you can find time for the Firm every week you can find time for my boy.
At this point I’ll honestly take the gamer gimmick with the pink t-shirts again, if it means he’s back on TV.
Booking Miro is so easy, too: just let him rip. Pair him with anyone, for any reason, at any position on the card, and see what happens.
Hell I’ll go all out and say it: put him in a championship program with MJF, and let him win that program. It’s time, Tony; redeem him.
1. Kris Statlander
Really this entry should have been “anybody in the women’s division not named Britt Baker or Jade Cargill”, but I didn’t know how many wrestlers that was and wanted to keep this list down to a manageable number.
Now in fairness, Statlander was well on her way to a big push around the time that she was injured, so if we’re lucky we might get to see this one play out next year regardless.
It’ll be well earned when it happens, too; Statlander has a great gimmick, she’s great in the ring, and she’s funny to boot.
She also provides a nice bridge between the women’s and men’s divisions in her association with the rest of the Best Friends, which is always nice to see as it gives the company a feeling of being a little more alive (and provides a great opportunity for some intergender matches, which is cool if that’s your jam).
Her character also provides a little change of pace from other prominent women in the company, who tend to fit the “badass” mold but not much else.
If not the Women’s Championship, Statlander should at least be in contention for the TBS Title, and would be a great candidate to end Cargill’s current dominant reign with the belt.
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