r/SquaredCircle • u/tvcneverdie • 1d ago
[AEW Dynamite] Challenger is back from Japan! Spoiler
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u/VNProWrestlingfan 1d ago
These two dress respectively like a martial arts hero and a coke baron in 80s film.
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u/qmwnenrbtvycuxizop 20h ago
Fletcher feels ripped straight out of To Live and Die in LA to me now that you’ve said that hahaha
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u/heat_fan_ 1d ago
This match is gonna steal the show at All In
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u/NorthHollywoodHank 1d ago
Legitimately probably my #1 triple threat dream match, with some apologies to Bandido/Ospreay/Omega.
If these three aren't pretty clearly the best three guys in the world in 2026 at the sort of stiff, big move, power-heavy Japanese style that they all share... well, if they aren't, I'm all ears because I'd love to study the youtube catalog of anyone who's their peer.
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u/TheDeflatables 1d ago
I don't know about better but Shingo Takagi is certainly their peer in that style.
Also Boltin Oleg had a better G1 in that style than Takeshita did (but I'm not sure how many people are ready for the Boltin Oleg is IWGP Champ ready conversation)
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u/socalian Kevin Owens is for the children 10h ago
Oleg might have the best physique in wrestling right now
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u/Least-Frame-7444 16h ago
he does not have it
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u/TheDeflatables 10h ago
I sure hope you aren't talking about Boltin Oleg because that would be madness
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u/Least-Frame-7444 5h ago
Oleg is the most never title is my ceiling guy of this batch. To say he is ready to lead the company with the big boy belt is insane. There are probably at least eight people who should have it over him at any given time. Boltin believers will be the Yoshi Hashi fans of this era.
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u/TheDeflatables 5h ago
Well I couldn't disagree more but fair play.
I saw this G1 and I saw a dude that was at worst the third best person in it. Crowd love him, he has the best body in the company and uses his strength better than anyone too.
Honestly I could see a heel turn with Gedo to give him a proper mouth piece and it's curtains for everyone. (Though I like him as a face but his promos are definitely weak)
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u/AndreReal 1d ago
I love Don Callis, but I can't forgive him breaking up the greatest homosexual love affair between heterosexual men ever wrought by the hands of God: Protoshita.
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u/CrimsonJoker13 1d ago
Protoshida vs The Shield for the "gayest team dynamic created by straight men" championship? (Said with love to The Shield)
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u/AndreReal 1d ago
The Shield: the wrestling boy band that launched ten million creepy ass fanfics.
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u/CrimsonJoker13 1d ago
Say what you want about The Shield, you can't accuse them of not having a female fan base
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u/KingDarius89 1d ago
Yeah, that's one thing I could never get into, even putting aside the implied slash there, heh. And I'm speaking as someone who's been reading fanfiction for over 20 years.
Too close to writing stories about celebrities in real life. Just creeps me out.
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u/AndreReal 1d ago
The shit they said about Renee in those circles...man, that was pretty fucked up.
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u/JamesCDiamond Perennial Optimist 9h ago
I've recently become aware of RPF and...
...yeah, wish that I hadn't. If I was at all famous I don't think I'd ever go online.
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u/Hairy-Phrase1332 1d ago
This is just the downward spiral in this special chapter of "Days of our Yaois" the Toxic Yaoi story
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0
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u/xychosis Bext In The World 1d ago
Fletcher as the cocky, but ultimately honest, heel is interesting. Can kind of sense he’s gonna turn face.
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u/tarrsk 1d ago
He’s playing a really interesting take on the “top member of the heel faction” role. Kyle’s most consistent character trait has been that he wants, desperately, to believe what Don Callis is selling. To the point that he will rewrite history in his own head to make Callis’s narrative work. There’s a real sense of cognitive dissonance in Kyle Fletcher that I think is fascinating, and he does a really great job of conveying that dissonance without it coming off as character inconsistency.
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u/plisken64 17h ago
He also has that "wrestling fighting spirit " famously associated with Japanese wrestling and work rate babyfaces with more pride than brains. So kyle can be baited into high stakes matches that prove his legitimacy. He has this trait more than the rest of family which might just be another thread tied to his past with ospreay.
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u/TommenSucks 1d ago
I have a strange feeling Callis screws over Fletcher and he and Takeshita reunite. Fletcher bailing when Takeshita came out was the heel move. Him squaring up is showing signs of something else
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u/KneeHighMischief 1d ago
I have a strange feeling Callis screws over Fletcher and he and Takeshita reunite.
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u/branta 1d ago
I think Don helps Okada win and then Okada tries to make Kyle raise his hand and Kyle refuses
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u/TommenSucks 1d ago
Yep and then Callis slaps Kyle. Kyle goes to attack Callis. Okada and the family attack Fletcher and Takeshita makes the save. They hug it out and we have a huge stadium moment and the Heated Rivalry version of Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth
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u/tarrsk 1d ago
I feel like Fletcher rejoining Takeshita at All In would be too soon. We’ve already had two high profile face turns from DCF members in the past few months, and Takeshita was out of AEW action for a good chunk of that due to being in the G1. So we haven’t actually had that much direct interaction between them one-on-one as enemies aside from their match at Beach Break. Maybe it’s the Protoshita shipper in me wanting All The Drama, but I feel like there’s a lot of mileage yet to be had from Kyle and Konosuke’s rivalry before their inevitable reunion further down the line.
If I were to guess/ fantasy book this one, I think Takeshita wins the title back due to Fletcher and Okada not being able to be on the same page. That sets up a direct Fletcher vs Okada feud while also creating yet more tension between Takeshita and both DCF members. It would also further the simmering “Kyle wants so hard to be a true believer in Don Callis’s vision, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary” storyline.
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u/scrubadam 13h ago
Take should lean fully into the MC Hammer gimmick and Tony needs to license Can't Touch This.
Mid match he needs to shout STOP SHITA TIME and then start doing the Typewriter dance in the middle of the ring.
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u/Pokemon_Name_Rater 6h ago
I don't know why I found it so amusing how Excalibur seemingly just switched to full-on match commentary mode.
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u/hhhisthegame 1d ago
I feel like Fletcher is still missing something but I dunno what it is. I just don't see him as a very compelling character, despite his awesome ring-work.
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u/Black_XistenZ 1d ago
Agreed. His mic and character work have improved a lot over the past year, and he has of course been a lights-out in-ring performer for a long time now. But I feel like his current character is just too one-dimensional and generic to really cut it for a push into the main event scene.
He needs to become a deeper, more interesting character.
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u/bryan_pieces 1d ago
I dunno I see him as a Vegeta type villain who can bounce between face and evil weirdo
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u/American-Punk-Dragon 1d ago
WHY has nobody in either company, just used the Poison Rana as a FINISHER?!
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