How over is he in other promotions? I think he lacks in ring charisma and better body language, those two things are a necessity for someone that works his style. I hope he actually does turn on 2.0 and joins Danielson because he'll probably learn what he needs to improve on if he gets to be around Dragon for 6-12 months.
I've only ever seen him in Terminus, where he was BY FAR the best "indy" guy there in terms of ring work and awareness, and in Beyond against his trainer Brandon Thurston (no, really) and John Silver (Silver looked far better than him, but this was also about a year ago).
He was...sort of "indy" guy over, maybe? Not anyone that you would put on the marquee to sell tickets, but someone chin stroking wrestling analysts like us would appreciate. He's about as appreciated as Cedric Alexander would have been during his indy run if he were a less dynamic worker, I suppose. Kind of over, but not THAT over because he's just not interesting enough as a character inside and outside the ring (hopefully you understand what I'm trying to get at there).
I'm actually going to try and watch the most recent BOLA that he won to see how he looked in front of that crowd, especially since he wrestled two of the more likeable guys on the scene during the tournament (Alex Shelley and Mike Bailey). I should've just gone since I don't actually live that far from the Globe Theatre here in LA, but shyt happens I suppose. If he can't get over in front of that crowd after how hard he's been hyped on AEW TV, then there actually might not be much hope for him. Hopefully he does end up with Danielson and Mox and improves on that front, though, because his work is genuinely quite good, if unexciting and peppered with unnecessary nonsense sometimes.
