Lee South Bucks Fletcher Alexander vs JetSpeed Omega Hangman Philadelphia, PA AEW Dynamite September 3, 2025
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Since joining AEW, Kyle Fletcher has emerged as a rising star, with the look, charisma, and skill set of someone destined for the main event— and maybe even multiple world title runs.
That future arrives sooner than expected. On Saturday, Sept. 20, Fletcher will headline AEW’s All Out pay-per-view in Toronto, challenging Hangman Adam Page for the AEW World Championship.
It’s a defining moment of his career, one that could cement ‘The Protostar’ as a fixture in AEW’s main event picture, title win or not.
Ahead of his world championship opportunity, Forbes spoke with Fletcher about his rapid rise, his adjustment to the spotlight, and the pressure of delivering on those expectations at All Out.
Rob Wolkenbrod: You’ve only been in AEW a few years, but you’ve already connected with North American fans, won the TNT title, worked stadium shows in front of massive crowds, and now you’re stepping into the world title picture for the first time with a challenge at All Out. Looking back, how do you reflect on this journey, and was there a moment when you felt things truly clicked with the AEW audience?
Kyle Fletcher: Progressing in AEW feels like as soon as one thing happens, you’re already looking at the next thing. You only have a couple of days to recover, maybe a week, and then it’s, alright, what’s the next picture? What’s the next match? What’s the next thing I have to think about?
Everything feels like it happened very quickly. It’s this very slippery slope, and somehow we’ve just ended up here, right? When I signed with AEW back in 2023, if you had told me I would be in the spot that I am this quickly, I probably would have laughed. I would have been stoked. Obviously, I would have thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I’m just grateful to be in this position. I think the AEW fans have been great to me.
If there was a moment, I’d say that it clicked with the fans at Full Gear, my first singles pay-per-view match against Will Ospreay. It was an instance when people started to understand me, and I felt comfortable in front of those fans.
Until then, it feels like you’re constantly having to prove that you’re worthy of that spot. That night, I felt they went, ‘Oh, okay. I know why he’s here. I know why he’s in this position.’ I hope that I can just keep doing that. I hope that every time I go out there, people just realize that I’m exactly what I’m meant to be.
Wolkenbrod: During that match with Will Ospreay, did you feel things click for you in the ring right then, or was it more something that hit you afterward when you looked back on it?
Fletcher: I want to say both. When I was in the ring, sometimes you get those moments where everything’s going exactly how you pictured it. The crowd is absolutely into it, and you get a moment in between some stuff. You’re lying there on the ground, just listening to everything, you feel the vibe in the room, and you kind of just realize yourself, ‘Oh, we got something special going on here.’
I had that moment in the ring, and then afterwards, the reaction from everyone backstage and to everything online, all of that combined made me go, ‘We did good. We made it.’
Wolkenbrod: You’ve said Don Callis has been one of your biggest mentors. What’s the most valuable thing he’s taught you about succeeding in AEW, and how does that advice carry into preparing for potentially one of the biggest matches of your career?
Fletcher: Don is so cool—he’s been around wrestling for so long that he’ll come up with these random tidbits and pieces of advice. Sometimes it will be literally standing together right before we go out on stage, and he’ll just say, ‘Just remember blah blah blah blah,’ or ‘Today, maybe try blah, blah, blah.’ And that’s always really helpful.
The biggest thing he’s taught me is to not be afraid, to stand there and just revel in the moment. With wrestling, it’s so easy to think about say, for example, in a promo, I go out there and I know what I want to say, but he always encourages me to stand there and take a moment to just listen to what’s going on, and to hear the reactions and just play off that, as opposed to trying to get in whatever I had in my brain that I wanted to say beforehand.
He says that the heat from the crowd is better than anything that I could say, right? So, when the reaction is there, he’s always encouraged me to soak it in and not stress myself out too much about everything else.
Wolkenbrod: Did you find yourself leaning on that advice during your recent promo in Philadelphia? After the moment with Kenny Omega and Hangman Page on Dynamite, then again on Collision, did you feel his words shaping how you handled the crowd?
Fletcher: Oh, absolutely. Every time I’m out there, I try to think about that, and I think that’s why it’s the best piece of advice he’s given me. Yeah, I think after the Kenny Omega thing, and then on Collision—very much so. It’s something I’m still working on, but, yes, definitely something I’m trying to think about more.
Wolkenbrod: You’ve wrestled all over the world. How has life in the U.S. compared to what you expected when you began living here full-time?
Fletcher: I’ve said this before to friends, but growing up in Australia, and as soon as I knew that I wanted to be a professional wrestler, I didn’t say this in my brain, but I had this feeling that I knew that at some point I would have to move to the U.S., because that’s where you’d make a living in professional wrestling. You can do it in other places, but the U.S. is the biggest market for it.
When I was eight or nine years old, when I wanted to be a pro wrestler, I knew I would end up here eventually, right? So, when it all happened, it was a pretty easy adjustment. Just because of that, I thought, ‘Oh, yeah. I mean, I’m moving to America.’ I kind of always hoped and prayed this would happen. I mean, yes, the lifestyle is definitely different from Australia.
The biggest thing that I always say is it feels like, here you are in the center of the world. It feels like everything is going on here, and I feel very close to everything happening, as opposed to living in Australia.
Australia is a million miles away from everything else. It’s just in its own little bubble, and everyone there is so carefree and laid back. The lifestyle is awesome there. But when you have this vision of wanting to be successful in whatever the field is, you have to be where everything’s happening.
Wolkenbrod: You’ve taken a big step moving into singles competition, especially after building so much alongside Mark Davis. How important has he been to your career, and has he shared any advice with you as you’ve started this run while he’s been out with injury?
Fletcher: Mark Davis and I started teaming around 2017, and a lot of our success came together when we traveled the world. When you span the globe for five years with one person, you naturally get pretty close with them, so that’s been very cool.
I was 18 years old when we started teaming. I didn’t know who I was as a person yet, let alone a wrestler, so having my best friend there with me for all that stuff, it was so helpful in many ways. I’m not sure if I would have had the same success that I did by myself at that time, and without a doubt, I would not be where I am today without him. He’s meant so much to me.
And then there are all the injuries he’s suffered. As a friend, seeing it is very hard. It’s difficult because I want the success that I’ve had for him. I care so deeply about him, so I want him to experience that. But from speaking to him, he kind of sees my successes as his successes in a way which is really cool, which makes me feel good about it, that I can almost do this thing for both of us. That’s not to say he won’t come back and absolutely kill it when he’s back from his injuries.
It’s cool, though, that I can take a part of him with me into everything I do. I wouldn’t be the wrestler I am today without him, so hopefully that can show as well.
Wolkenbrod: On your own side, you’ve evolved a lot, playing both babyface and heel, even changing your look. How much of that comes from your own instincts versus borrowing from past or present influences?
Fletcher: My whole career, I’ve tried to be inspired by other people that I watched as a kid and thought, oh man, they’re so cool. I’ve tried to take pieces of that throughout my career, but you get to a certain point where it’s more important to carve your own path and to start doing your own things.
With this most recent run, where I shaved my head, I call myself ‘The Protostar.’ Since then, I’ve relied less from others for inspiration and trust my own instincts more, which you can see in the ring. Now, I’m really just feeling it when I’m out there. I’m at a place where I’m confident in the ring. And so, when I get this feeling of, ‘Oh, I should do this,’ there’s no hesitation behind it.
I’m at a place where I’m very comfortable, and a lot of the things that you do see are just my own brainchild, my own instincts. And if I do something stupid, it’s probably my own.
Wolkenbrod: You were in the fatal four-way match where Dustin Rhodes won his first singles championship in over two decades. What was it like to share the ring in that kind of history, and did it change how you view your own path toward legacy moments, like making your first world title challenge?
Fletcher: That day was so strange altogether. I was primed and ready to wrestle Adam Cole for the [TNT Championship], and I found out the morning of that it got changed. Obviously, a horrible situation. That sucks, but it’s part of pro wrestling, and you can’t think about it too much. You instantly just have to go, ‘All right, what’s the new job now?’ As soon as I got told what the match was, man, it kicked into gear.
The moment for Dustin was really beautiful. There’s one shot of me sitting on the ground outside the ring, watching the big screen in the crowd. So I was just sitting there, watching it, and on my face, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m so upset I didn’t win.’ But there was a part of me that went, ‘That’s a pretty beautiful moment.’
I was very grateful to be out there and to be a part of it. Obviously, in the end, the title came back to where it belonged anyway. But seeing that moment kind of gave me the feeling of, ‘It might not be today, but I’m going to have many of those moments in my career, and I just can’t wait for when they do eventually come.’
Wolkenbrod: This is your first time challenging for the AEW World Title, and you’ve called out Hangman Adam Page for All Out. What does this opportunity mean to you, and how are you approaching it?
Fletcher: It’s the biggest thing that I’ve ever done in my career—and in my life.
My whole career, people have kind of pegged me as this future world champion, and it’s a cool thing to hear, right? But now that the opportunity is real, like it’s right in front of me, and it’s about to happen, I have a chance to not only fight for the AEW World Championship, but possibly win it.
I’m 26 years old. I didn’t know that when people said I was a future world champion, that I thought the opportunity be coming this quickly. It’s very surreal. Growing up as a kid wanting to be a professional wrestler, this is the kind of moment you dream of, that first world title win. So, it could be soon, which feels surreal, and preparation is in full effect.
I’m just trying to bring the best me, the best package I can, while trying to stay calm with it all and not letting the nerves get me too early on. But I know I have a job to do, and I just got to stick to it.
Wolkenbrod: When people told you in the past that you were a future world title challenger, how did you respond?
Fletcher: You just have to show gratitude, just thank you for thinking of me like that. But in a way, it’s kind of validating, right? When you’re a kid and you dream about being a world champion, and then slowly but surely, more and more people are telling you you’re actually a future champion. It makes you feel, ‘Oh, maybe this could actually happen, like this dream that I’ve had for nearly 20 years now could really happen.’
It’s a cool feeling, but it also adds that pressure. It’s like people are starting to expect a certain level of you. They’re starting to expect certain things from you, so it just makes you want to work harder. It makes you want to prove people right, and prove myself right.
Wolkenbrod: You’ve said before that you thrive under pressure and put a lot on yourself in big moments. How does that mindset apply now, with the spotlight on you on the road to All Out?
Fletcher: I can tell you I know that I’m going to probably be close to panic attack levels on the day. That’s just me, but that’s when it’s most important to fall back on my discipline and the plan I’ve laid out in the days leading up. I’ll have my meals that I need to eat, my workouts to do, my shaving, my tanning, and all that stuff to get ready for it.
Those are kind of the most important things for me to fall back on, because no matter how I’m feeling, I just know I need to get those things done, and that keeps me in the zone. The day of, I know the job I have to do. I just need to walk out there and do it. I have to try and put those feelings on the back burner, focus on the job at hand, and just go out there and do it, because I know I can.
Wolkenbrod: As you head into All Out, what do you want fans to know about Kyle Fletcher right now, and what can they expect from you in this next chapter of your AEW run?
Fletcher: Kyle Fletcher’s me, man. Kyle Fletcher is the most authentic version of myself that I can present. When I’m out there, I just want them to know that that’s exactly where I’m meant to be. It’s where I’ve always wanted to be.
I still feel like the same kid who fell in love with wrestling in Australia at eight years old, and everything I go out there and do is for that kid. It’s for me, it’s for my family, for my future, and I love this thing that I do with all my heart.
I don’t think I would be on this planet anymore if it weren’t for professional wrestling. I don’t know what else I would do. There’s nothing else I want to do. So, when I’m out there, I am exactly what I’m supposed to be, and I just hope that I can make other people feel how I felt watching it when I was eight years old.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.