Kyle Fletcher – A brief history

After the in-ring interview earlier this week on Dynamite with Tony Schiavone, Kyle Flecther debuted his brand-new shaved head look on AEW Collision.

During a segment on Dynamite where Kyle said that part of the reason, he did what he did to Ospreay was because he was sick of being compared to Ospreay. Kyle decided to take out a razor and shave his signature blonde locks as well as issue a challenge to his former United Empire stablemate for Fright Night Dynamite 30/10/24.

Kyle betrayed Ospreay at WrestleDream laying the grounds for something that can only be compared to The Ashes (Cricket rivalry for those who aren’t British or Australian).

Where did this betrayal come from? Why did the Sydneysider decide that now was the time to strike? What are his motivations?

Well Kyle addressed some of those this past week on Dynamite when he said that when he first joined AEW, he was being touted as the next big thing. But that was until Will Ospreay got there. Then all he heard was that he would be “the next Ospreay”.

Uniting the Empire – RevPro / NJPW

In August 2021 during the midst of the pandemic, Kyle Fletcher alongside his tag team partner Mark Davis made their return to UK based promotion Revolution Pro and very quickly regained their spot as one of the top tag teams by recapturing the British Tag Team Championships after defeating Destination Everywhere (Michael Oku & Connor Mills) at the High Stakes event on September 19th, 2021.

It was on that very same night that Mark Davis and Kyle Flecther would cement their allegiance to the empire by attacking The Young Guns and Shota Umino and joining Will Ospreay and The United Empire. The three men would frequently tag together in RevPro and on April 10th 2022, Aussie Open would make their NJPW Strong debut by teaming with fellow UE member, Jeff Cobb to defeat TMDK.

Fast forward and Aussie Open would continue serving the Empire and earning success across the UK as well as in Japan even managing at one point, along with T.J. Perkins, to defeat the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions FTR and Alex Zayne. After this match, Aussie Open would unsuccessfully challenge FTR for the IWGP Tag Team Championships.

At Sakura Genesis on April 8th 2023 – Aussie Open would secure their first run as IWGP Tag Team Champions when they defeated Bishamon and strengthening the United Empire dominance. The team would hold onto the belts until Resurgence when they were forced to vacate the titles due to Mark Davis being out with an injury.

In 2022 Kyle would make some sporadic appearances in AEW alongside his mentor Will Ospreay but it wasn’t until May of 2023 that Kyle would sign on the dotted line and become a full-fledged member of All Elite Wrestling with his tag team partner Mark Davis.

ROH – AEW Appearances

Upon signing of the contracts, Aussie Open would set their focus on showcasing why they were one of the hottest tag teams in Europe and Japan by setting their sights on the ROH Tag Team Championships which they would get their hands on in July of 2023.

Meanwhile Will Opsreay was dominating the scene over in Japan and strengthening the walls of his Empire and setting the world ablaze with his matches leading for him to become one of the most desired wrestlers in the world.

Aussie Open were riding into battle with the UE banner flying high, that was until at WrestleDream 2023 when they lost to FTR and it was announced after the match that Mark Davis would be out again for an undetermined amount of time due to a wrist injury. This would set Kyle Fletcher on a new path as a singles star.

In October of 2023, after a loss to Konosuke Takeshita, Fletcher joined the Don Callis Family where he would go on to end up becoming the ROH World TV Champion at that year’s Final Battle PPV.

Ospreay signs with AEW

Full Gear 2023 came with the announcement that AEW’s latest signing would put pen to paper that night in the ring. Fans eagerly awaited as Tony Schiavone was in the ring and Ospreay’s music hit blowing the roof off the place and silencing the rumors of Ospreay heading to WWE or TNA. Ospreay would officially sign with AEW in 2023, however his contract with the company would not officially take effect until February 2024 after his commitments with NJPW and TNA had been completed.

During this time, Fletcher had been making progress as a singles wrestler and as a prominent member of the Don Callis Family while Ospreay was trying to carve a name for himself without the help of anyone.

On the odd occasion Ospreay and Fletcher would be together as a part of the family but never really highlighting the same union they had in the UE. That was until September of 2024 where we bore witness to what made Ospreay and Fletcher a force to be reckoned with when they won the Casino Gauntlet Tag Match for a chance to face AEW Tag Team Champions, The Young Bucks at Grand Slam.

Grand Slam comes and the duo fail to capture the AEW Tag Team Championships due to Ospreay refusing to use the screwdriver which was offered to him by Don Callis. At this time Ospreay had already secured his second championship in the form of the International Championship after regaining the title from MJF at ALL IN London 2024.

Ospreay would go on to defend his title on the October 2nd episode of Dynamite against AEW’s newest sensation Ricochet which would end in a no contest due to the interference of Konosuke Takeshita who would attack both men setting up a triple threat match at WrestleDream.

A dream turned into a nightmare

WrestleDream is here and Kyle Fletcher is nowhere to be found on this card, however his stablemate and his best friend are battling over the AEW International Championship. What a fantastic match it was, up until the end that is, when Don Callis hatched his devious new plan and that was to steal the International Championship and obliterate Will Ospreay in the process. In the closing segments of the match, after almost 4 years of friendship and brotherhood, united by the empire, Kyle Flecther did the unthinkable and literally stabbed Will Ospreay in the back of the head with a screwdriver handing Takeshita the win and the International Championship.

Since that night we have not seen Ospreay on AEW television and Kyle has been walking around like the smug Australian bastard that he is. It was only on Dynamite this week that Fletcher gave us his reasons for the betrayal, and he would even challenge Ospreay to disobey doctor’s orders and turn up at Fright Night Dynamite for a match.

Will Ospreay show up this week? Or will Fletcher be another dominant Aussie over the Brit, just like in the cricket?