Though his current contract status in AEW is unclear, before Ace Steel was #AllElite, fighting with CM Punk on-screen to help him get in the zone ahead of All Out and then fighting alongside “The Best in the World” in an all-out war with The Elite in the locker room, he was a trainer in NXT, helping to usher along the next generation of WWE Superstars.
Discussing the performers he helped to work within his NXT tenure on his 10 Minutes with Ace segment of Fightful's Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Steel complemented Bron Breakker for his in-ring abilities and for having that undeniable star power that caused him to be the NXT champion on two occasions.
“Steiner [Bron Breakker] didn't have much training whatsoever, but he had something you could tell it was a no-brainer,” Steel said via Fightful. “When he gets in the ring and runs the ropes, he runs the ropes like his dad [Rick Steiner]. If you study wrestling, as we do, we're like, holy shit. He runs just like Rick and sounds like Scott [Steiner]. I don't know if he does math, like Scott, but he certainly sounds like it, but he's the blue chipper; eventually, it will hit.”
Steel then turned his attention to Tiffany Stratton, who is currently riding high as the NXT Women's Champion after securing the vacant strap at NXT Battleground. Like Breakker, Steel felt there was just something about the former CrossFit athlete that made her a perfect fit for WWE's developmental product.
“Tiffany Stratton, when she came in. I think she was a CrossFit athlete. I don't remember her background exactly, but I knew right away. I looked at her and wondered, if they don't hire this girl, what the hell are they looking for? Because sometimes the trials were geared towards, we're looking for stars, or we need people that, you know, could fill the roster, you name it. Tiffany Stratton, for one, could do anything physically. So it's just putting her mind to it, to the character, and look what she's done, just brilliantly, you know, she's back on TV after a little bit of a hiatus, but she's got the character down, and that's stuff you can't teach. Like, where is that? Like, she's a quiet girl, and she's not loud. She's not boisterous. You don't know, she's in the room, at least from what I've seen around her, but she pulled that character out when they said you're going to be daddy's little girl.”
All things considered, it's not hard to see the star power in either Stratton or Breakker, as the duo look like they will be headlining WWE shows for a very long time. Still, good on Steel for figuring that out early and for giving the duo a push when he still had the ability to do so, as it's paid off in a major way.
Matt Hardy believes CM Punk can be a true asset to AEW.
Turning attention to AEW Collision, which according to Tony Khan, will feature CM Punk, Matt Hardy was asked about his return on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast and let it be known that he is excited about the prospects of “The Best on the World” returning to the promotion, even if he isn't sure how fans will react to the moment.
“CM Punk, he is a huge star, so him coming back is a big deal,” Hardy said via Fightful. “It’s just gonna be really interesting to see what kind of reaction he gets. I know when the Young Bucks were in Chicago, they were getting booed out of the building. They were polarizing. It’s gonna be interesting to see how CM Punk’s reactions are as well, especially with how smart the All Elite Wrestling fans are.”
Hardy then turned his attention to the challenges of making Collision work, specifically the travel involved with running two shows per week at minimum.
“We shall see. I think more than anything else, people just kind of want to know what their schedule is. When you have a live show on a Wednesday and a live show on a Saturday, that means the travel is going to take you out Tuesday evening. It’s gonna bring you back Thursday morning, and then Saturday, [it] would take you out Friday evening, work all Saturday, bring you home Sunday morning. So people just want to have an idea of where they’re going to land, I think more than anything else. As far as how we’re feeling about that show, honestly, I think people will start determining those feelings once the show starts, I would imagine, and once it starts being produced weekly, I think we’ll probably get a good feel of how the show is gonna be when it’s all said and done.”
Will Collision be the hit AEW is hoping for? Will CM Punk play ball and prove he's still one of the best in the business? Or will expectations fall short, with Punk, Steel, and the rest of the Collision roster wondering what went wrong? Fans will have to wait until later this month to find out.
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