Wrestlers’ Court: Should Brian be unCaged?

The October 16 edition of AEW Dynamite featured an in-ring promo by manager/groomer Don Callis. Callis appeared mid-ring, flanked by one of his newest charges, Lance Archer.

This is no surprise since he ‘traded’ heel luchador Rush for Archer the previous week. Rush apparently joined Callis’ team back in July. He was thus available to be traded back to a stable including Dralistico and The Beast Mortos — which I didn’t know he’d left. Archer’s former manager, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, now leads these wrestlers in AEW’s version of the cross-promotional Mexican/Japanese group La Faccion Ingobernable.

I’ve read Russian novels that were easier to follow than some of AEW’s recent plotlines, but that’s a column for another day.

AEW buried the segment’s lede. Brian Cage, who won the ROH Television Championship at the Wrestledream pay-per-view pre-show, also appeared unannounced, glaring silently as Callis declared his intention to team Archer up with Cage and pursue the AEW tag team championships. On October 23 the new team destroyed a pair of unnamed opponents, and this new chapter of Cage’s story began.

Not present: Cage’s recent running buddies, the Gates of Agony, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona, who inhabit the AEW-ROH netherworld.

I’m all for anything that gets Cage more visibility. I think he’s one of many vastly underused talents employed by AEW, so hopefully this helps his career. His presence in this segment without any prior hype feels more like an attempt to throw a team together and shore up AEW’s declining tag team division.

One of my first thoughts about Callis’ announcement was that it further devalues ROH as a standalone brand. Cage is a current singles champion for an active, recognized title. He is a former FTW champ in AEW as part of the late Team Taz faction, but that belt is not officially recognized. The ROH TV title has a worthwhile history with champions including Christopher Daniels, Will Ospreay, Adam Cole, Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal. It has been used as a steppingstone to the Ring of Honor World Championship and was a prize worth fighting for in Sinclair-era ROH. It should make Cage the focus of programs as babyfaces chase his title. For an exploitive heel manager like Callis, bringing a reigning champion into his stable should have been a coup. Instead Callis talked up the prospect of pairing a current singles champion in a full-time tag team. I like the team, but the timing is suspect.

I hope this experiment works. After all, there’s precedent for dashed-together teams to succeed. Examples include WWE’s APA, New Age Outlaws and the Bar. Current teams like Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa in #DIY and Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E as the New Day continue the theme. Pre-Loose Cannon and Stone Cold Brian Pillman and Steve Austin got over huge in WCW’s Hollywood Blonds, only to be broken up prematurely by office politics. During WCW’s death spiral Bryan Clark and Brian Adams channeled Road Warrior big man team energy as Kronik. ROH paired a floundering Kyle O’Reilly with journeyman Bobby Fish to form ReDRagon. TNA succeeded by pairing Million Dollar (Less Canadian Exchange Rate) Bobby Roode with Cowboy James Storm to form Beer Money Inc.

Heck, the Acclaimed are touted as an AEW original success story. Max Caster and Anthony Bowens were unremarkable singles wrestlers when they joined AEW in 2020. Tony Khan put them together and gave them their team name. After one match, he beheld his creation and it was good. Khan signed Bowens and Caster to a long-term tag team contract shortly thereafter. The scissoring continues.

Back to Cage.

He was an early, exciting AEW signing. I’ve followed his career since his Lucha Underground days, where he was positioned as a monster heel who could execute power moves against a physically-smaller roster, along with incredible aerial offence for someone his size. Cage started wrestling in 2004. He was drawn into the business by his friend, Chris “Kanyon” Klucsarits. He had a pair of stints in WWE’s developmental territories, but started attracting attention when he joined NWA Hollywood, tagging with the man who would become LA Knight under the tutelage of the man who had been Paul Bearer.

I got on board the Cage train during his four-year Lucha Underground run, where he was booked as a serious heel contender throughout his tenure. Cage was an early feud for star babyface Prince Puma, who recently signed with AEW as Ricochet. He then spent two years with Impact/TNA Wrestling, where he won the X Division title, feuded with Bobby Lashley (beating Lashley before he went back to WWE) and winning the Impact World Championship. Cage lost that title to Sami Callihan, mainly because he refused to lose it to Tessa Blanchard backstage while Callihan, in full Ronnie Garvin tribute mode, was up to the challenge.

Cage joined AEW in January 2020. He was positioned as a strong heel, one of Jon Moxley’s early challengers. By July he lost his momentum and has yet to regain it. Cage held the FTW belt until July 2021 when he was kicked out of Taz’ stable and dropped the title to Ricky Starks. He showed up in AEW’s ROH as Tully Blanchard’s new charge, then teamed with the Gates of Agony. The three men were assigned to Prince Nana’s embassy after Blanchard was fired. They won the ROH six man tag team championship. Cage had the opportunity to bolt in 2023, but is locked up with AEW for the next five years. As Prince Nana became part of Swerve Strickland’s championship babyface act, Cage receded into the background. He and the Gates turned on Strickland in May 2024, to massive indifference.

Cage is afflicted with what I call “Mike Awesome Syndrome.” By normal human standards he’s a big guy, heroically muscled, who can do it all in the ring, from power moves to high flying. He benefits from a steady diet of smaller opponents. Cage broke through as part of Lucha Underground, and later with TNA/Impact Wrestling, where he had no shortage of foes who would credibly bump for him. That pool dries up in WWE, where most of the mid-card to the main event is controlled by taller, bigger foes — and where move sets are curtailed, especially for big, physique-driven performers like Cage. Just ask Brock Lesnar.

Mike Awesome looked like a world-beater in Japan and later in ECW, where he tossed around the likes of Spike Dudley and Masato Tanka. He struggled to find his niche in WCW where established top talent like Hulk Hogan, Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger were 1) comparable in size, and 2) unwilling to take the kinds of bumps that Awesome meted out to get over. At least WCW had a thriving cruiserweight division and a host of talented but small mid-carders for Awesome to throw.

WWE magnified Awesome’s limitations. Lance Storm noted that Awesome’s signature moves included a powerbomb off the top rope into the ring, and another powerbomb from the ring to the floor — risky moves that were difficult for smaller wrestlers to manage safely, and that involved blind landings. As big as Awesome was, there was no way a main event big man would or could take those kinds of bumps, and without them Awesome was just Average. For a big man, Awesome had a credible acrobatic game and, like Cage was comfortable jumping off the top rope. Japan and ECW embraced the novelty of a big man who could fly. WCW and WWE stripped away this part of his move set, rendering him an ineffectual big-ish man. Like Cage, Awesome’s approach to wrestling was well rounded and fun to watch. Without license to display it, and lacking a meaningful program or super promo skills, Awesome was lost among wrestlers who were sold on single attributes: bigger giants, stronger musclemen, higher flyers, louder talkers.

I think Cage has been smart to stay out of WWE, where he would have been lost in a parade of undersized and overmuscled workers.

I do like Archer and Cage as a team. I would have paired them years ago, once the Team Taz gimmick petered out and it was clear a singles title run was out for Archer. Both men should be monsters against smaller foes but have lost more than they’ve won and been obscured in multi-person programs. AEW generally struggles to book monsters. Archer. Cage. Keith Lee. Miro. Jake Hager. Big Bill. Brody King. Luchasaurus. Dutch from the Righteous … remember him? Wasn’t he part of Jake Roberts’ team along with the departed Archer? Juice Robinson. The late Brodie Lee. Powerhouse Hobbs. Wardlow. All big men who have spent most of their time putting over an overrepresented little man contingent.

I have written before about how WWE typecasts wrestlers in ways that limit their opportunities. AEW seems more reductive, preferring to push smaller talent who occupy the same space (Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia, for starters). It’s one of the few things I agree with Jon Moxley about. AEW pushes its Davids consistently at the expense of its Goliaths. It makes a great occasional storyline payoff, but Goliath had to go over often for David’s victory to be meaningful.

Cage’s broad move set, athleticism, physique and playful approach to character-building (I’m here for any Wolverine references) should make him a featured performer with a bunch of title runs. AEW’s booking has done him few favors, but late-era comebacks are surprisingly common in pro wrestling. At 40 years old and teaming with an almost 50-year-old Lance Archer, I don’t know whether membership in Callis’ family will ignite Cage’s career. It does open a few possibilities. Neither Cage nor Archer are exceptionally strong talkers. They’re now linked to one of the best in the business. Cage has also joined a stable with a fellow former ROH TV Champion. Kyle Fletcher, who is primed for a heated feud with Will Ospreay, recently held that title. He lost it to Atlantis Jr., who just lost it to Cage. Callis also bragged about the current incarnation of his ‘Family’. In his promo he trotted out Konosuke Takeshita and Fletcher but left out Trent Beretta and Powerhouse Hobbs, who has wandered through several factions and was once Taz Teammates with Cage.

Beyond the implosion of the Don Callis Family, Cage has opportunities to work with his former Lucha Underground colleagues. I mentioned Ricochet, but Cage could also fight Swerve Strickland (another callback), AR Fox, John Hennigan, Angelico, Luchasaurus (who will hopefully return from illness soon) and Guevara. Other LU veterans to pass through AEW include Jake Hager, Jack Evans, and Sonny Kiss, who might pop up again. Even Pentagon and Rey Fenix could help put Cage over before their rumored exit. Admittedly none of these talents have been booked strongly in AEW, but funny things can happen when wrestlers are allowed to be creative while management is distracted.

I think Cage’s best chance in AEW involves getting away from Callis and aligning with his true family, under the paternalistic protection of the Patriarchy. While Christian and company seem stuck with a different reclamation project in Kip Sabian, Christian’s stable needs a big man to hold Luchasaurus’ spot — at least in the short term. How great would it be for Cage to jump to the Patriarchy, either alone or as part of a team? The disused part of my wrestling brain that demands logic would be thrilled: Christian and Brian Cage could become a family unit — with increasing degrees of hilarity as kayfabe cousins, uncle and nephew, or father and son (Christian is only 10 years older than Brian, but that’s wrestling). It’s goofy, but if there’s one man on the AEW roster who can turn goofy into threatening and relevant, it’s Christian.

If only they let Brian out of his Cage.

TOP PHOTOS: Don Callis, photo by Steve Argintaru, Twitter: @stevetsn Instagram: @stevetsn; Brain Cage, photo by George Tahinos, georgetahinos.smugmug.com

RELATED LINKS

• Brian Cage story archive
• Previous Wrestlers’ Court columns by Jonathan Schwartz