When news broke that Marko Stunt‘s contract with AEW wasn't being renewed, it felt as inevitable as it was surprising.

Sure, the perennial underdog performer was seldom used on any AEW media – his final match was all the way back on AEW Dark Elevation in September of 2021 – and he was purposefully absent from the promotion's push of Jungleboy and Luchasaurus as their tag team champions in favor of Christian Cage, but still, Stunt was an AEW OG who was featured heavily on the promotion's early televised product. Even if he wasn't part of the Jurassic Express action figure set, he still didn't deserve to be kicked to the dog on the free agent market, right?

Well, that ultimately proved to be true, and outside of the occasional callout on Dynamite, with Cage specifically mentioning his leaving in an incredibly brutal heelish promo, Stunt has been relegated to the indies as a featured performer at promotions like GCW, MCPW, and NFW.

And yet, according to the man himself, AEW almost had a very different storyline for Stunt that could have kept him an active part of their programming for weeks, months, or even longer; a little-big pairing with one of the Biggest Shows in AEW.

A Paul Wight-Marko Stunt team-up would have been great for AEW Dark.

One of the problems with AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation is a lack of long-term compelling storylines.

Granted, they occasionally do happen and can be money angles through and through, like the feud between Joey Janilla and Sonny Kiss or the cross-promotional rivalry between The Factory and the LA Dojo of NJPW, but the shows are far too often used as spaces to stack up wins for storylines on Dynamite or Rampage rather than to maintain stories on their own.

An angle pairing up Marko Stunt with Paul Wight could have certainly added to that lineage, especially since, according to the Jurassic Express member via NBC Sports Boston via a transcript from the fine folks of Wrestling Inc.:

“Me and him had talked a bit about doing an angle … I am getting beat week after week and bullied, and then he’s on commentary and I’m getting bullied one week, and finally, he gets tired of it and he throws his mic down, and he comes down to the ring and like, saves me,” he said. “And this was him pitching it to me, actually. He’s like, ‘Yeah, and then we can form this best buddy duo and I’ll be your best friend,’ and he’s like, ‘Man, I’ll play it up so well.’ He’s like, ‘This is my best friend!’ and he started singing.”

That, friends, would have been money indeed.

Now sure, the concept of pairing a little bullied guy with a big bruiser is nothing new, AEW actually did a variant of it earlier this year when certified heavyweight Hook came to the defense of Danhausen after he was being bullied by Tony Nese and “Smart” Mark Sterling, but the sheer optical splendor of seeing a supersized performer like Wight show off his strength in a team with Stunt – hopefully with the duo wearing matching outfits – would have made for an instant visual juxtaposition that anyone, from a 70-year wrestling fan to a first-timer, could have appreciated.

But wait, it gets better – at 50 years old, the 7-foot, 400-pound performer Wight probably shouldn't be wrestling many 10-minute matches, even if he's squashing three performers at the same time, put Stunt into that equation as the majority in-ring worker who takes the brunt of the punishment, generates the heat for his foes, and then gets saved at the last moment by his buddy – think Omos and A.J. Styles in WWE – and the bones were absolutely in place for an incredibly fun run that would have elevated Stunt outside of his former group and given Wight a few more matches under his belt before he hangs up the old boots for good.

… oh goodness, do you recall the news that Tony Khan had secured the rights to Captain Insano from the Adam Sandler movie The Waterboy? Could you imagine Stunt and Show pulling off a Bobby Boucher-Captain Insano angle on AEW Dark? That would have been absolute cash freakin' money… at least for a show or two.

There was a time when the addition of Paul Wight to AEW seemed like it would involve more than the occasional squash match and commentary on AEW Dark Elevation. He looked destined for some sort of a managerial role akin to his fellow YouTube announcer Taz and would maybe continue to be one of the more physically imposing presences in the business, even if he wasn't going to have a Sting-esque in-ring resurgence at his size. An angle with Marko Stunt, though potentially polarising, would have fit that bill and been incredibly intriguing indeed. *sigh* there's always Fuego Del Sol – Grande La Sol anyone?