Last week on AEW Dynamite, Mark Davis lost to Will Ospreay in the semi final of the 2026 Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament.
It was an inevitable loss. Will Ospreay is the golden child right now. Everyone knows his path is to the main event of All In London 2026 to face the AEW Men’s World Champion in Wembley Stadium. Only an injury is going to change this goal. Anyone in his way is going to be beaten.
Ospreay in the past has been criticized for how much offence he gives his opponents, not really something I agree with. While finishing an opponent quick can be exciting, AEW tries to build an environment making you believe these are the best pro wrestlers in the world. Anyone can give a top wrestler a run for their money but that doesn’t mean they can close it out.
I thought the match took inspiration from the recent acquisition of Mick Foley to All Elite Wrestling and someone likely watched the January 4, 1999 match between Foley’s “Mankind” against The Rock in a no disqualification match. The ring was surrounded by The Corporation and D-Generation X, which eventually led to a big faction confrontation between the two sides until Stone Cold Steve Austin came out, smashed The Rock with a chair, and led to Mankind winning the title.
The AEW version was a referee bump leading to Trent Barretta in a Don Johnson Miami Vice suit and El CLØN running in to attack Ospreay. The Death Riders then ran in for the save, followed by Lance Archer, followed by Claudio Castagnoli, followed by Brian Cage in Zubaz, followed by PAC in a tucked in white t-shirt, followed by Will Ospreay and Mark Davis reminding people they are the match, followed by the return of Jake Doyle, followed by Marina Shafir, followed by Jon Moxley in the Stone Cold Steve Austin role. Well, except Kyle Fletcher would then come out for a run-in as well, pulling out a screwdriver, only for Konosuke Takeshita to stop him.
AEW knew that it couldn’t be about a run in that helps their Mankind win the title so instead it’s about the ring finally being cleared for Will Ospreay to submit Mark Davis for the win. The countless run in’s forever did serve to do some protection for Davis.
You see, Mark Davis isn’t just competing in this. He’s the AEW National Champion. It’s another classic case of AEW putting a singles champion in a match that’s supposed to lead to a shot for the AEW Men’s World Championship because they are fine protecting their champions until they need a heel. Of course, the reason AEW has so many singles belts on heels is to give them something to do when they can’t fight for the World Championship since MJF is champion. Davis, MJF, and Kevin Knight all wear singles gold. At one point you also had Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher as champions clearly to keep them from other aspirations.
Davis has only been AEW National Champion for a month, and while he hasn’t done much for what we were told the championship would be (a title defended with AEW partners and independent promotions) he can’t be blamed when Jack Perry didn’t really do that either. “AEW Partners” for Jack Perry was “I work Collision a bunch.” To Mark Davis’ credit he’s at least worked two matches in ROH, though that’s owned by AEW. It isn’t exactly a partner.
But while I have some small gripes on the way the National Championship has been handled, I am happy to see it on Dunzilla Mark Davis. I’m also happy to see him work a main event of Dynamite against Will Ospreay, even in a losing effort. Nobody has made the most of their minutes in AEW in 2026 quite like Mark Davis, and he brings an element to AEW they’ve sorely needed.
Path of Dunkzilla
Mark Davis has been wrestling since 2007. As I’m not Australian he never really got on my radar until 2017, when Aussie Open was first formed with Kyle Fletcher and the two started working the UK independents. There was a Grizzled Young Vets versus Aussie Open match in PROGRESS I remember getting attention. It wouldn’t be until New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Royal Quest in 2019 where they really caught my attention after a good match with Guerrillas of Destiny. NJPW needed tag teams and here was a fresh one. Davis and Fletcher, despite the great debut, wouldn’t really start working NJPW until post pandemic in 2022.
Both men really wanted to work in NJPW but they weren’t able to secure long term contracts so they eventually made their way to All Elite Wrestling. It’s often talked about that they were “stolen” by AEW and while I don’t think All Elite Wrestling is above “taking talent from other promotions” this was a very different situation. Davis and Fletcher talked about how they were broke after the pandemic and Bushiroad wouldn’t give them contracts. They got offers from WWE to work NXT UK and they rejected them to stay in New Japan. Tony Khan literally paid for Mark Davis to get knee surgery simply because he worked an ROH taping while both men were not under contract to anyone.
Aussie Open tried to push for a dual contract with NJPW and AEW and NJPW just kept delaying any talk of a contract, so they instead signed with All Elite Wrestling exclusively. It’s one thing to take a contracted talent whose deal is expiring. It’s a whole other thing to leave two men without contracts working hard for your company and expect them to stay loyal.
Davis and Fletcher would be full time in AEW in 2023 and got a solid run as an up and coming tag team, and there’s a good argument they should have won the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship at some point. They did at one point win the ROH Men’s World Tag Team Championship and dropped it to Adam Cole and Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Their last match together was WrestleDream 2023 against FTR for the titles. Mark Davis would injure his wrist in the match and not return until over a year later in 2024 starting a feud against Kyle Fletcher for joining the Don Callis Family.
In the time Davis was gone? His tag team partner Fletcher proved he was one of the fastest rising up and coming stars in all of pro wrestling. He put on weight, he got better in the ring, and it was hard to see Davis as anything other than his forgotten tag team partner. It also didn’t help that Davis couldn’t stay healthy. First it was his knee during the pandemic, his knee after the pandemic, his wrist, and now he had a fractured foot in 2025. Davis would once again make a return in autumn, this time going full heel in the Don Callis Family. Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis were back on the same side, but it felt like the Aussie Open days were over.
Davis would work mostly singles matches in his return, under the midcard facing the likes of Mark Briscoe on Collision and Trent Seven on ROH HonorClub. AEW then had the plan to create a new tag team for him, teaming him with new signee Jake Doyle to be Davis and Doyle. We all commented how it sounded like a detective agency. AEW tried to push the two men fast and hard, straight to a tag title match against FTR after winning a number one contenders four way against Gates of Agony, JetSpeed, and The Young Bucks. Unfortunately this time it would be Davis’ partner Jake Doyle who got injured.
Dunkzilla Breaks Through
Davis would go back to singles, having an excellent match with Hangman Adam Page on Dynamite and losing an excellent Eliminator match for a AEW Continental Championship shot to Jon Moxley. AEW, who never gave Aussie Open the tag title run they deserved, would instead put the two men together with Kazuchika Okada and have them defeat Jet Set Rodeo for the AEW Trios Championship.
The Trios Championship run was barely two weeks but fun while it lasted, losing to Mistico and JetSpeed at Revolution. I was just happy to see the Trios Championship defended on a pay per view again. Davis would again have an excellent singles match on Dynamite, this time against Speedball Mike Bailey. It was a lot of losses but it did feel like it was building to something. The next few weeks included Fletcher and Davis teaming together to beat The Rascalz (as Don Callis Family and not Aussie Open), Davis with Andrade to beat The Rascalz again, two Trios matches for HonorClub and Dynamite, and then an AEW National Championship shot against Jack Perry at the Dynasty Zero Hour.
The match ended up my favourite match of AEW Dynasty 2026.
It really felt like after that match that AEW was saying, “Yes, we know, Mark Davis is capable of great things, we just don’t know where to fit him”
Later that month, Will Ospreay would be booked against Mark Davis on Dynamite. What felt like just another TV loss for Davis instead turned into him beating Will Ospreay by referee’s decision. The story was all about Ospreay returning before he was ready and it costing him in the match. But this was Davis’ first big singles win since beating Mark Briscoe back in the AEW International Title Eliminator Tournament. If you don’t count ROH, his only AEW wins since that have been against Komander and… that’s it. Just Komander.
So now off the win against Ospreay, Davis would get a rematch against Jack Perry for the AEW National Championship at Fairway to Hell, and this time? Davis would not be denied. Davis would win the National Championship. He has defended it since against Xelhua and Adam Priest on ROH HonorClub, and got a decisive victory in the Owen Hart Tournament Quarter Final against Jack Perry.
The Rise of Dunkzilla
So what makes Dunkzilla so important in AEW? Why am I chronicling his career up to AEW and talking up a loss he took to Will Ospreay?
It’s because Mark Davis was never supposed to be here. He’s the Jim Neidhart to Kyle Fletcher’s Bret Hart. Years ago I made that comparison and it was supposed to be a compliment to Kyle Fletcher. Now I realize, no shade to Jim Neidhart, it was unfair to Mark Davis.
Mark Davis brings a package few wrestlers have had. He’s got the size to be considered a heavyweight but he can move in lockstep with the fastest wrestlers on any roster. He’s an actual all-around guy in the body of a scruffy heavyweight killer. A lot of what I hoped Brody King could be in AEW? Mark Davis actually is. A lot of what Mr. Brodie Lee was going to be for AEW before his untimely passing? Dunkzilla can actually fill that void.
There is still a part of me that wishes Fletcher and Davis reunite Aussie Open, just as I pushed for two years ago when Davis made one of his returns but as a babyface. The two men on their current runs? If a World Championship isn’t in the near future for Kyle Fletcher, why not have him kill it in the tag team division as Aussie Open again? Face Cope and Christian. Face Young Bucks. Get your win against FTR before they leave (if they leave.) Take on Motor City Machine Guns and New Day if they come to AEW. Face Grizzled Young Vets again! The possibilities are incredible.
But if that’s not a plan? Keeping him in singles competition and allowing him to work and build up wins is only going to give AEW more options going forward. Right now the crowds still boo him. They haven’t watched his in-ring work and been swayed to cheering him. Yet.
There’s a potential to Mark Davis now that he’s proven he’s healthy and he can work well in any division you stick him in. He could be a top heel in All Elite Wrestling. The kind of monster that everyone has to overcome if they want to be champion. He can also be more of an upper midcard guy with credibility that guys have to beat to get to that next level.
I never thought it would happen with him but that’s why you don’t ever doubt someone. The guys who have the ability will show it when given the right opportunities. AEW has been criticized for their size of roster and how hard it is to get everyone on TV, but if you do get on? You have to make the best of your opportunities. That’s why Thekla is AEW Women’s World Champion and that’s why Mark Davis is the AEW National Champion. You have to make the most out of what you’re given or there’s something else to replace you.
It’s possible he’s just keeping someone’s spot warm and maybe they won’t know what to do with him except lose TV matches to babyfaces after this, but my hope is that they see the potential in moving him up the card. We still haven’t got him versus Darby Allin, and I think that’s a feud that you could run across three pay per views if done right. There’s a lot you can do against Bandido and Brody King. The Hurt Syndicate should have no issue with him. You gotta believe a match against Konosuke Takeshita is in their future.
There was recently news about Keith Lee that there was talk he could have been ready to return but wasn’t. Keith Lee was that combination of size, power, agility, and presence that felt one of a kind. It’s unfortunate he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Without a Keith Lee, that doesn’t mean AEW should abandon the idea of having guys with size in their upper card. Mark Davis is that man. It’s time for the rise of Dunkzilla.
Thick thighs can also end lives.
