What’s the prime of a pro wrestling career?
Wrestling fans are always weird about wrestler ages and there’s various reasons why. For starters, pro wrestling isn’t like sports. In sports, your early to mid 20s is often your highest production years with your prime being your best performing years. You can still be a major part of a team at the end of your prime but once most sports athletes hit age 33 they are on their way down. Only the absolute best keep playing at a high level beyond those years.
Pro wrestling really isn’t like that. Historically, the best years of a wrestler, the years where they figure it out? That begins in their 30s. For some examples, Bret Hart’s first singles push came at age 34, winning the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Kenny Omega was a very good wrestler for years but he didn’t really start putting it together until 2015 when he was 32. It’s these years that you should really get behind a wrestler.
We’ve had a lot of examples in the past 25 years of wrestlers figuring out sooner, from Kazuchika Okada to The Rock to Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The young superstar is a great thing to have, and most companies will jump on it and push them to the spotlight. Then it’s sometimes a struggle to know what to do with them after. The Rock at least left to Hollywood at age 31. MJF won’t be 31 for another three years.
So I want to centre around pro wrestlers in the men’s division between the ages of 30 and 34. That isn’t to say at 35 you’re worthless or over the hill or unnecessary to focus on. Kenny Omega, Orange Cassidy, and Eddie Kingston are still wrestlers with lots to provide in their 40s. I’m also not saying if you’re under 30 then don’t push. Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, Daniel Garcia, and Bandido are all guys I would still make an important factor in the company going forward. MJF as well.
But that 30-34 is when a lot of wrestlers have put it together. They know their voice, they know their style, they know how to be versatile and they know how to promote a program. This is a very important age to be. It’s a time when you have to see whether a wrestler has what it takes to be one of your top stars or if they need to fall down the midcard.
I’ve decided to focus on seven male wrestlers in that 30-34 range and see what they need, what they provide, how they’ve been used, and how they should be used going forward.
Will Ospreay (31)
Will Ospreay many people wanted him to come into All Elite Wrestling and immediately win the AEW Men’s World Championship. They wanted him to at the latest win it at All In 2024 at Wembley Stadium, convinced it would turn him into a megastar. Ospreay has done a great job selling merchandise and getting big reactions, but I have always felt the AEW Men’s World Championship should be hard to win. You shouldn’t be able to walk in and win because the competition is too fierce. Moxley needed almost a year to win. Omega needed almost two years. Even CM Punk, who never should have won the title when he did, took nine months to win.
I feel Ospreay, now with close to a year as a full-time wrestler in AEW, has now established real trials and tribulations in the company. He isn’t just a star from New Japan Pro Wrestling coming to AEW. He’s now a legitimate AEW star. He’s worked on his promo ability, he’s had losses he regrets, and wins he can be proud of. He did good things as AEW International Champion.
Ospreay has been used pretty well in AEW, and has been recently forming a team with Kenny Omega to take on the Don Callis Family. I do believe both Omega and Ospreay would work better in AEW’s main event than some of the guys who have recently spent time in it. If Will Ospreay won the AEW Men’s World Championship this year I wouldn’t be against it like I was in 2024. He should be one of the top stars going forward for All Elite Wrestling. The fans believe in him.
Jay White (32)
Another former NJPW star coming to AEW, Jay White hasn’t had the same easy ride that Will Ospreay had. I think a part of that is because Jay wasn’t planned to come. Jay has tried to find his place to fit and has had some rough roads to the World Championship, now with two failed attempts to take the title.
I am a huge Jay White fan, so it’s hard for me. With the way he’s recently been used in doing unsuccessful run-ins on the Death Riders reminds me of Frankie Kazarian as the Bullet Club Hunter just getting his ass kicked by the Bullet Club guys and not mattering. After all Adam Page did to rebuild Jay White as a contender, it’s frustrating to see it go to waste.
I think Jay White would be best served at this point in a tag team, or going back to a trios. That said, he could also be good against Konosuke Takeshita for the AEW International Championship, or even facing Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Continental Championship. Either way, I don’t see main event work for him going forward, and that’s hard for me to say. I don’t think he’s cooked or anything, but he just needs some time away from that scene and some different faces before re-entering.
Darby Allin (32)
The prince that was promised certainly seems to be destined for AEW gold this year, with the Death Riders angle all about one day him defeating Jon Moxley to become AEW Men’s World Champion. I thought the perfect time to do this was Revolution, one year since Sting retired as AEW World Tag Champion with Darby. However, Darby got beaten down on the final episode of Rampage and looks to be climbing a real mountain in Mount Everest before trying to climb the Death Rider mountain to the top of AEW.
It’s absolutely the right time to try with Darby. Darby is very popular in AEW, is one of the most consistent workers in-ring, and is always good for both a death defying stunt and an incredible wrestling match you notebook save. He could, like all of the Pillars, try to do less work shooty comments in his promos and instead focus on the world AEW built. Aside from that, I don’t think he needs much.
If this program does end with him as World Champion, I hope AEW doesn’t treat him like Rey Mysterio was treated in WWE. Darby shouldn’t just fight giants or always look like he can’t handle himself. Darby Allin is the personification of Tyler Durden’s line in Fight Club: skinny guys fight until they are burger. AEW fans hate seeing Darby get thrashed, but they know that comeback is coming.
Darby needs to continue this trajectory to the top, even if this extended break in 2025 is frustrating.
Hangman Adam Page (33)
Hangman Adam Page is a frustrating topic. He already had a run at the top of AEW, and it came right when the world was looking at AEW as the hot new thing, and a deluge of former WWE stars came piling in to say they should be the main event over him. Page has since essentially taken an upper midcard role, never treated unfairly but never treated with as much respect as he deserves. He’s one of the most compelling characters and best wrestlers in the world. He should be respected as such at the top of the card.
He’s helped make Swerve Strickland a main event star, helped Jay White rehabilitate himself from the bad MJF program and Billy Gunn loss, and based on the amount Jon Moxley worked with him, likely helped save the four way main event at World’s End. I was frustrated seeing him working with Jeff Jarrett and Christopher Daniels, but the Daniels program was quick and ended perfectly, helping change the trajectory of Hangman’s character from a monster heel nobody wanted to face into a conflicted babyface feeling unworthy of the crowd’s adoration.
Like most Hangman Page fans, I don’t think there’s anything he needs to do except keep being great. It’s more on the booker to treat him as great as I think he is. As most people watching AEW think he is. Has he been used properly? Probably not, but he also hasn’t been used horribly. AEW would absolutely be a better place with Hangman Adam Page once again as AEW Men’s World Champion, or at least in the mix.
The mix isn’t one of four men in a December main event everyone knows he isn’t winning, or taking the loss in a three way so Samoa Joe can extend his reign one more month. The mix is when he’s treated as more important than any wrestler over the age of 45.
If he isn’t going to be your World Champ? I highly suggest he win a singles championship like the Continental Championship and let him carve his own importance with the championship. Yes, I’m pushing my, “Page should be Tetsuya Naito with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship” agenda I’ll pick up 25.
Powerhouse Hobbs (34)
Powerhouse Hobbs has been actually handled better than I expected him to be when he returned from injury. Winning the Casino Gauntlet and facing Jon Moxley ended up going much better than I thought it would, and even though he lost? He looked like a real threat. His program with Big Bill felt like a really good midcard program for him, only for Hobbs to get set back with another injury.
That might end up the issue with Hobbs, being unable to really go somewhere with him due to the injuries, which is too bad. I’m a major fan of the Powerhouse, but I still believe his calling in his pro wrestling career is as a tag team wrestler. That said, I’m all for AEW getting what they can out of him as a singles performer.
Hobbs isn’t a great promo, but he’s good enough to get by. He also just brings an element of physicality and power that not a lot of others do. He’s a true star built in AEW and nowhere else, and AEW should always cultivate those wrestlers and give them every opportunity to tell people they don’t have to be WWE stars just to get noticed.
Going forward, I think programs like Big Bill is a good idea, but I still believe Powerhouse Hobbs true calling in AEW is as a tag wrestler. With Hurt Syndicate as the current AEW World Tag Team Champions, I would love to see Hobbs find another powerful wrestler like himself to take them down.
Anthony Bowens (34)
Unlike Powerhouse Hobbs, Bowens has spent his time in the tag team division and it’s time to see him climb out of that area to become a singles wrestler.
Bowens has proven he can get over, and I hope he cuts complete ties with The Acclaimed. It’s not just getting away from Max Caster, who is already proving to just be a low card comedy heel when separated from Bowens to carry him. Bowens also has to separate from the nostalgia pops of Billy Gunn, whose only contribution to the 2020s is to be told, “Scissor Me Daddy Ass”
I’m sure Bowens respects and cherishes Billy Gunn for how much they’ve worked together but if Bowens wants to make a serious run he has to do it as Anthony Bowens and not Anthony Bowens and Daddy Ass Formerly Of The Acclaimed.
Bowens is a good promo, he’s a good wrestler, and he’s a fantastic ambassador for AEW outside of the ring. It’s hard to say what his potential is, but he does need to start strong in the midcard. I thought Kyle Fletcher would be beating Daniel Garcia for the TNT Championship at Grand Slam: Australia, which would have allowed Bowens to build himself as a number one contender and face Fletcher at Revolution. That’s now off the table, so I would look for a heel for Bowens to square off against, prove himself against, and go over. With Jack Perry nowhere to be found, I would push instead for Bowens to go up against Christian Cage. Cage and Hook has gone about as far as it should go, and I think Cage is a perfect opponent for Bowens.
Once he gets some wins against experienced heels, you can start seeing just how much Bowens has, and how soon you need to get singles gold around his waist.
Swerve Strickland (34)
Swerve is pretty easy for the “what does he need?” category, because since entering AEW, he has covered all of those questions. His promos have become better. He added size to his physique to be a credible heavyweight wrestler. His work in-ring is now polished enough to hand and excel against the very best wrestlers in the world. He’s done it without changing too much of who he is. Like he said to Ricochet, he isn’t a good guy, but the fans respect his honesty. He’s their bad guy.
Strickland shouldn’t have lost the AEW Men’s World Championship to Bryan Danielson, and has since faced loss after loss, from Adam Page at All Out to the loss against Bobby Lashley. It’s high time Swerve stops losing and starts making his argument for the world championship again.
I think the work he’s doing with Ricochet right now is the best in the company, and there’s something to be said about Swerve and Hangman always being the glowing centres of the company. You can always rely on these men. That doesn’t mean you leave them in the midcard. That means you make them the backbone of your AEW Men’s World Championship.
It’s time for the company to stop relying on Jon Moxley when they need a champion during turbulent times and start considering Swerve Strickland for that job. If Darby is the prince that was promised? Swerve is a perfect opponent for him at the top. If Kenny Omega, Hangman Adam Page, and Will Ospreay all find themselves in the main event again? Swerve needs to be there with them.
Swerve to me should be the face of the company, and 2024 proved he can handle it. When he turns 35, he isn’t leaving his prime. It’s just beginning.
That’s the Prime Seven. My hope is that AEW finds a way to make all seven of them important going forward, and finds the best possible roles for them. These men shouldn’t be making others into stars. Everyone should be doing everything they can to make them bigger stars. Being in this age group, as I said, doesn’t mean other age groups are not important. I would just make sure by the end of 2025 that these seven are in better positions than they started the year in.
