If you asked me who was the MVP of All Elite Wrestling for the month of September? I would say there’s one man ahead in the ranking. Or rather, one beast: The Beast Mortos.
The Beast Mortos has struggled to get wins in singles matches in AEW (ROH a different story) and his only wins in September came from tag teaming with Roderick Strong against Joe Keys and Marcus Mathers, plus the recent AEW Collision where he participated in a 10 man tag team match and was just one contributor in five victors. It’s less about the W column and more about the individual performances.
Starting with a Continental Contenders match with Konosuke Takeshita, it was a hard hitting match from both men. Every bit of meat slapping possible was ripped out in a 12 minute slobberknocker. He would work in a three way nine man match working as a mercenary for Shane Taylor Promotions with The Undisputed Kingdom taking the win. The Kingdom worked with The Beast Mortos previously in July with the unlikely team of Roderick Strong, Rush, and Mortos.
The Beast Mortos would move to being a sell sword for The Premier Athletes in a loss to Hologram and The Conglomeration. It was soon after this The Kingdom would take a shine to The Beast Mortos, especially Matt Taven. It actually turned out Matt Taven and The Beast Mortos had actually met in the past. Back when The Beast Mortos… was Frank Mortos, Attorney at RAWR.
AEW would even come out with a t-shirt about Frank Mortos: Attorney at Law and The Beast Mortos on Twitter would even show he passed the bar.
Taven and The Beast Mortos (I think Taven called themselves The Animal Kingdom?) would team together against Hologram and Sammy Guevara at a pre-NFL game in Jacksonville, Florida in a losing effort, but AEW President Tony Khan got to see how the crowd reacted every time Hologram and The Beast Mortos locked it up in the squared circle.
While he hasn’t officially renamed himself Frank Mortos, Attorney at Law, it has definitely helped lead to a new found popularity for him. No longer is he just the strong lucha base that can hit hard and move fast, but now he’s a contender the day he can rack up some wins.
While he couldn’t defeat Ricochet on AEW Dynamite this past Wednesday, it was another fantastic performance with a lot of people feeling it’s only a matter of time before he starts racking up wins in the promotion. It was interesting to see the returning Rush and The Beast Mortos show chemistry in the finish for the 10 man tag match on Collision last night. Rush is technically a member of Don Callis Family, or was the last time we saw him. But is there a tag team that can be developed between those two? The Bulls of AEW?
Maybe I had it wrong. Maybe The Beast Mortos isn’t a mercenary or a sell sword (or a slut) but he is a defence attorney taking cases that come his way. Shane Taylor Promotions, Varsity Athletes, Undisputed Kingdom, and maybe now the Don Callis Family. I’m sure Don Callis could use a lawyer.
I am someone who absolutely loves the Phoenix Wright videogame series and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, so all of this stuff is absolutely up my alley. I was already a fan of The Beast Mortos from back in TNA Wrestling when he was Black Taurus. This is just a perfect combination for me to absolutely adore this monster just a little more. Plus it means AEW now has a lawyer they can be proud of.
There’s a lot of ways AEW could go. You could have him tag team with Rush and chase the AEW World Tag Championship. You can keep him with Taven and Bennett and do The Animal Kingdom for the Trios Championship. You could keep him solo and have him go after Jack Perry for the TNT Championship or Will Ospreay for the AEW International Championship.
I think back to ROH on HonorClub in late July when The Beast Mortos faced Mark Briscoe for the ROH Men’s World Championship and wonder how much both men left on the table in a rematch. It’s time for Briscoe to move to the AEW roster permanently, and I could absolutely see The Beast Mortos being the man to free him to do that by become the new World Champion.
And, oh yeah, I’ve thought about it too. The Beast Mortos in the Continental Classic? It has to happen.
In 2005, Daft Punk released a song called “Robot Rock”. The song sampled a song from 1980 by the band Breakwater. That song? “Release The Beast”
“How can you say you wanna sit there
With all this going on?
Just layin’ back in your chair
Like you’re not even here
Just give a little push
Go on and let yourself get loose
Gonna take the funky side of you
Gonna make your body move
Get up
Time to release the beast”
That’s all I can think of when it comes to The Beast Mortos and his performances in AEW in the past few weeks. Don’t think of “release” in the way we usually do in pro wrestling (releasing from the contract) but release in letting it out to run rampant on the AEW roster.
The song expresses to just give a little push, and that’s why AEW President Tony Khan should listen to it on repeat while watching The Beast Mortos. Just give a little push. I have no objections.
