Back in 2023, Bandido wrestled Konosuke Takeshita in the main event of AEW Rampage at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.
Rampage no longer exists (pour one out for the Pagers) and it was often criticized as a meaningless show, so some folks don’t remember this match. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer gave it four and a quarter stars, but the match rating website Cagematch didn’t have enough votes to provide a total rating on their fan voting system. Same with the trios opener between Chaos and United Empire which also earned a four and a half from Dave.
It’s too bad because the match is incredible. It’s two men from very different areas of the world that are both obsessed with pro wrestling figuring out each others tempo to create new music. It’s a lost gem like many AEW Rampage matches end up. Give it a watch the day it goes up on MAX, if ever.
It’s also two men in their late 20s who All Elite Wrestling hasn’t exactly protected the way it should. Takeshita is the AEW International Champion but he doesn’t really feel like one of the top champions of the company because whenever he’s around it’s usually in a group or in a meaningless match. Ospreay never tried to get a rematch against Takeshita because that would mean either Takeshita losing the title or Ospreay taking another pinfall. Takeshita also never got his match with Kazuchika Okada.
Both those things, a singles win against Ospreay and a win against Okada, went instead to Kyle Fletcher, who is currently not in any title contentions. Meanwhile, Takeshita will have Kenny Omega in a major match at Revolution (which he might lose), but we already know after Takeshita’s win against Kenny Omega back in 2023 was followed up with a mini feud against Chris Jericho where Takeshita went 1-1 with Jericho, Jericho beating Takeshita in DDT and Konosuke beating Jericho on AEW Dynamite. It was probably the last good Chris Jericho singles match.
Until last Saturday.
I talk a bit about Takeshita because he’s in the same position as Bandido was in 2023, an obvious can’t miss young star who sometimes gets some spotlight but not enough to really feel like he’s making his mark. Takeshita went to New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2024 for the G1 Climax and now looks like he’s about to split time between AEW and NJPW going forward in 2025.
Despite great match after great match, Takeshita had not won on a pay per view singles match since the Omega match, and his wins against Jericho and Darby Allin happened on Dynamite. When he finally got a pay per view win it was for the International Championship, but in a three way where the story was less Takeshita winning and more Kyle Fletcher turning on Will Ospreay. Even the third man in that match, Ricochet, is now slotted higher than Takeshita as a heel feuding with Swerve Strickland.
The Most Wanted
Now we go back to Takeshita’s opponent back at that Rampage everyone forgets. Bandido. Bandido got injured and ended up missing the rest of 2023 and most of 2024. He returned at ROH Final Battle 2024 only to suffer a concussion in his return. His official return to the ring was an incredible match against Bryan Keith on Collision, one of the most satisfying TV singles matches of the year so far for All Elite Wrestling.
Bandido would get a title shot against Chris Jericho for the ROH Men’s World Championship, likely what his return at Final Battle was set up for. But instead of facing Jericho at the next Ring of Honor pay per view, it’s on an episode of Collision only two weeks prior to the next AEW pay per view and with no ROH pay per view in sight. It’s also not on Honor Club either. At Global Wars Australia they instead had Bandido and The Outrunners beat The Learning Tree in a trios match.
Every appearance by Bandido so far has been followed by incredible reactions from the All Elite Wrestling fans. Bandido really shouldn’t be fighting for the ROH Men’s World Championship anyway. He should be presented as a major AEW star.
Instead? He’s losing to Chris Jericho clean.
No Reward For Higher Ransom
AEW is essentially picking up where they left off in 2023 and booking Bandido the same way they used to book Konosuke Takeshita. In 2023 he lost to Bryan Danielson, lost to Orange Cassidy, lost to the Blackpool Combat Club, and lost to Takeshita. He isn’t even at Takeshita’s point of winning matches and singles gold without being focused on. Instead, he’s once again losing to more established stars or beating guys underneath him when he gets his shot on TV.
This isn’t about ranting against Chris Jericho. I feel Jericho is overhated and overblamed in the AEW circles but his real issue is just refusing to take a break in All Elite Wrestling. Jericho used to be smart enough to know when he needed to take a vacation so the fans could remember what made him great. He should become the Terry Funk of AEW, or heck, even be the Sting of AEW. His refusal to take a break prevents that, and that’s why he’s tumbled down the card to being ROH Men’s World Champion in a weak attempt to make ROH look like a stronger product for a TV deal.
But Jericho, who has been mediocre at best in the past year, looked more like the Jericho of AEW’s debut than the Jericho of recent years. Bandido elevated Jericho’s game. You could see Jericho exhausted with the pace he had to keep, burnt orange in the face, but he still pulled it off because he didn’t want to look weak against a young rising star like Bandido. Bandido and Jericho’s chop exchange was absolutely brutal, and when it was time for Bandido to fire up he executed everything on Jericho with precision.
It’s clear that Jericho is a huge fan of the Bandido stand off, even if he turned it into a way to get into the Walls of Jericho instead of the highly thrilling “shot for shot” that Bryan Keith and Bandido executed in their match. I believe that Chris Jericho is doing this in his mind to try to elevate Bandido, even if the result does anything but.
The crowd in Phoenix absolutely loved Bandido, and believed in him at every step that he could, and possibly should, have beaten Chris Jericho that night. Even if it had to be by DQ, Bandido should have got the win. I get that some people hate DQ finishes and feel it’s always better to end a match clean, but Bandido is the kind of wrestler you protect.
That finish did not protect Bandido.
“You gotta know when to hold em…”
I understand that in the minds of a wrestling veteran that Jericho won, “by the skin of his teeth” but everything about that match suggested that Bandido was the superior wrestler. The Revolution Fly (Scott Hall: “sack of shit”) off the top rope followed by the X Marks The Spot should have led to a successful 21 Plex. Instead Jericho essentially no sold both of Bandido’s signatures and was able to counter his finish for the win. It’s the kind of finish you give when Jericho is facing someone like Ariya Daivari or Blake Christian. Not the finish you do against Bandido.
It worries me that AEW doesn’t understand what they have in Bandido. I do understand the fear. Bandido in an interview two years ago said he wanted to one day work in WWE. But you don’t drag your feet on a guy who is getting over with the fans. You prove to him that his home should be AEW by making him the biggest star he can be. And if he still wants to leave? You take all that work you put into him and you put it into someone he can put over.
This clean loss against Chris Jericho? I don’t know what the purpose is. If you want to theorize it was to cut Bandido off at the knees be my guest. I think it was too many people thinking they were protecting everyone involved (“AEW needs a clean finish in the main event” mixed with, “put the champ over” combined with, “he lost to a roll up it happens”) and not realizing that the focus should have been protecting The Most Wanted.
Jericho has been a made man for over 25 years. He doesn’t need to be protected. Bandido is only 29-years-old and the AEW fans love him. He absolutely should be protected. If he isn’t in any of your title plans, even the ROH Men’s World Championship? Ask yourself why. But don’t be having him lose to someone underneath him, even to a roll up, even if he isn’t in title plans. Make it a DQ finish. Make it a count out finish. Do whatever you need to in order to get out of it with the fans still seeing Bandido as a star.
AEW has a real opportunity with Bandido to make him a major singles lucha star for the company, something they were gun shy to ever do with Rey Fenix or Penta. AEW shouldn’t be looking at Bandido as a good hand who can lose to people they are pushing. He should be looked as a wrestler who sells you merchandise and gets people into the arena in any part of any country. You should be making plans to ensure he wins big on a pay per view, not because of someone else turning on the guy he’s facing, but because he won clean and proud.
AEW is on a good run right now, and I hope Bandido losing to Chris Jericho isn’t a sign of them sliding back into the suffocating, exhausting heat they finally stopped doing. I hope it isn’t the Main Event Mafia once again trying to take control. It was the wrong choice in a great match. Start making better choices soon, before a guy like Konosuke Takeshita decides he’d rather be full time in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Bandido decides he’d like to go elsewhere, and all you have left are the old guys you decided to protect instead of them.
