McGuire’s Mondays: The five most interesting pro wrestlers right now

By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer

Last Monday, I was away on business, interviewing the concession workers who are slated to work AEW’s Y’all In next year in Texas. Who cares how the company is going to fill the place; I’m just curious if honey mustard will be offered as a dipping option for chicken tenders. OK, that’s a lie.

But, still. I wasn’t here.

And the time away afforded me the ability to think about a handful of characters in the pro wrestling world these days – a chance to over-dissect the people making headlines as we close out 2024. As such, I’ve compiled a list I’m calling the Five Most Interesting Wrestlers … Right Now … According to Me … And Probably Nobody Else. Got all that? Good, because I’m hoping to fit it on a business card.

Enough with the nonsense. Let’s take a look.

KEVIN OWENS

Kevin Owens is right. I mean, I don’t know how else anyone could look at this story between him and Cody Rhodes and not at least – and I mean at the very least – think to themselves, “Hmmm. Yeah, he’s got a point.” That guy spent years getting his ass kicked by Roman Reigns and then even spent months standing alongside Cody as he finished his story, defeated Reigns and won the top prize in WWE. But then for the sake of … I don’t know … pro wrestling? … Cody forgave and forgot and teamed with Reigns earlier this year. I’d be a little bent out of shape, too, if I was KO, and not even because as a rule, I’m generally petty and angry.

And yet that’s just one of a handful of Owens’s quibbles that really doesn’t not not make sense. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that Owens is probably the only person in WWE who could get away with doing what he’s doing (save for maybe CM Punk?). Owens has historically loved to wink and nod his way through promos and even matches sometimes, and when it comes to those of us who enjoy some meta and some snark with our bodyslams and pile-drivers, Owens has been the only one on WWE TV to really nail it and make it work.

Such is why this program between him and Cody is nothing short of fascinating. Cody has to know that his trip riding Cloud 9 in the WWE Universe is slowly – but probably surely – coming to an end as even the most die-hard wrestling fans can’t escape the curse of being fickle with their favorite personalities at some point. Cody was never meant to be John Cena or Hulk Hogan in WWE because Cody is a very good heel, too, and the money in his turn was always going to be big at the box office. Are we slowly inching there as Owens continues to garner more and more cheers whenever he attacks Rhodes? Be honest: It didn’t look like a room full of teary eyes after Saturday Night’s Main Event went off the air and Owens stepped on Cody, posing with Cody’s title in hand.

It’s great stuff. And most importantly, it’s smart stuff. Gone are the days when pro wrestling stories required a third-grade education. In is a time when a premium is put on how these things unfold. And, friends, I am here for all of it.

TONI STORM

I like this. I’m not exactly sure which way it will ultimately go – is “Timeless” Toni Storm back, but deliberately displaying bad acting chops to try and convince people she’s Rock Star Toni Storm? Or are we really going to go with the notion that “Timeless” Toni Storm was all one big hallucination and now Rock Star Toni Storm somehow has no memory and we’re just all supposed to go with it? I’m not sure how AEW will explain this away, but I like it.

And I like it most, perhaps, because it’s something I never saw coming. The Timeless character felt like a quagmire in a lot of ways – entertaining, but a box in which Storm could forever be stuck. There wasn’t much room for it to evolve … or so it seemed, anyway. With the new wrinkle that Rock Star Toni is back and acting weirdly, I can’t say I’m not impressed with how Storm and whomever dreams this stuff up decided to evolve the whole thing. For her part, Storm has been pitch perfect, no matter which character she decides to take on. It can’t be easy to keep pushing these things forward, but once the Timeless character was introduced, Storm solidified herself as one of the most compelling people calling themselves a pro wrestler these days.

I have low hopes for things that start out promising in AEW – thanks again, Death Riders – but here’s hoping this Toni Storm stuff ends up developing into something more than a novelty for a few weeks. The talent is there and the sky should be the limit.

MATT CARDONA

This one might be the one that sticks with me above all the other ones. Let’s recap. Matt Cardona gets released from WWE. He has a cup of coffee in AEW, presumably because he’s best buddies with Cody Rhodes. He leaves as quickly as he came. He then pops up in GCW in a sort of/kind of ironic way, but it sticks. He does the death match thing, and as his indie star glows, whenever he’s asked about AEW or WWE, he’s so loud about how he’s making so much money on the independent circuit and he loves it and it’s the best time of his life and yada yada and because of as much, he’s not even sure he’d want to go back to the major leagues.

Well, then some months pass. And then those months add up to years. And then he starts wondering in interviews the same thing the interviewers wonder about him: Why hasn’t WWE or AEW come calling? And then there are cracks. Cracks in the facade. Cracks in the confidence he once exuded. Cracks in the notion that he was happy as a clam and entirely fulfilled working the indie scene. Then, lately, some reports had WWE striking down his pitch to work with his wife, Chelsea Green, on an upcoming GCW show. Instantly, bang: Cardona pops up on AEW TV and he’s about to work with Chris Jericho in a program for the AEW-adjacent Ring Of Honor Title … and this comes in the wake of AEW and GCW seemingly being caught in a slap fight over some pissy comments Effy made about Tony Khan.

Whew. That was a mouthful.

Matt Cardona is an anomaly to me. I entirely understand his position that he never wants to be Zack Ryder again. And I even kind of/sort of believe all of the love letters to independent wrestling he’s written over the last few years. I’m sure he’s having fun and I’m sure the paydays aren’t bad. But, man. It’s starting to feel like “go now or go never” time if he wants to give the mainstream one more attempt. Maybe that’s why he took the ROH bookings; maybe he’ll be gone from AEW programming after the Hammerstein Ballroom show next month. Whatever it is, I’m awfully interested to see how this thing ends. Kudos to Cardona for the work he put in after getting the axe from WWE, but if that work will ultimately pay off in the form of a big time contract is a question I’m dying to see answered.

REY FENIX

Well. All right.

Fenix wants out of his deal and insinuates he has been treated inhumanely in AEW. AEW says you can’t just leave like that because you have to stick around for about another year because you’ve been hurt so much. Oh, and then there’s that pesky reality that Fenix-probably-wants-to-head-to-WWE-with-his-brother thing, too. The drama.

It’s yet another tale of yet another disgruntled wrestler in AEW, which makes me wonder about the times we’d constantly hear – not all that long ago – about yet another tale of yet another disgruntled wrestler in WWE (remember those days?!). I don’t know who’s right. I don’t know who’s wrong. I just know none of this looks or feels good for anyone involved.

In some ways, I commend the AEW brass for taking the PR hit and sticking to their guns. That’s a company that could use a six-to-twelve-month stretch without stories creeping out about wrestlers not being used or time being added to someone’s contract. But despite a certain level of public pressure, it looks like Khan and his company won’t budge and good for them on that. Besides: There is no room for nuance anymore, anyway. It’s not like AEW die-hard fans are going to turn against AEW because Rey Fenix claims the company mistreated him. That ship has long sailed.

What I do wonder about, though, is AEW’s reputation for being too wrestler-friendly. The grass has not always been greener for those who have left WWE to go to AEW (and vice versa, of course). AEW proudly runs a loose ship as some wrestlers brag about their creative freedom, the excitement of it still being a start-up (five years into its existence, mind you), and Tony Khan being an all-around good guy. That works for some wrestlers, but not all of them. Fair enough, right? Sure. But when you get into the territory where you have public squabbles about usage and injury time and contracts and, in Ryan Nemeth’s case, that omnipresent NDA that seems to linger over everything AEW does … it all just feels icky.

I’m not sure what the right thing to do is here, or, for that matter, if there is a right thing to do. All I know is it’d be great if both wrestler and company could figure it out sooner than later.

GABE KIDD

A handful of years ago, I attended some New Japan Strong tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. About halfway through the tapings, some fella came out in street clothes and cut a long, rambling, emotional promo in the middle of the ring. I didn’t know who he was, but he covered some heavy shit – thoughts of suicide, being stuck in Japan during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. – and the gist of the thing was essentially, “Hey, I’ve been going through it. I don’t really know how I made it through it. Now, I’m not sure what to do with it.” A fraction of the full promo actually made air.

That fella was Gabriel Kidd. His words that day were jarring and his presentation felt as honest as anything I had seen in pro wrestling. I didn’t quite know where to put it at the time, but seeing him blossom into this sort of loose cannon has been a lot of fun to watch. And now, in a few short weeks, he’s going to step in the ring with Kenny Omega in Omega’s much-ballyhooed return match. Good for him. In a few short years, he went from spilling his guts to a thousand people in Philadelphia to wrestling in the Tokyo Dome.

I root for him. I still don’t quite know where or if the character ends and the real life person begins, but that makes Kidd all the more interesting. He’s said some wild stuff in the name of stirring the pot, and anyone who has followed his work knows he can take a hell of a beating in the ring. Now, he finally gets the chance to earn a spot at the big boys table when he works with Kenny Omega next month. Here’s hoping 2025 proves to be a breakthrough year for the guy. He’s been through hell and back and hasn’t been shy about his personal struggles. Could it all finally be coming together for the 27-year-old?

Here’s hoping.