Thank you all very much for attending this State Of The Union Sonny Kiss Address. Madam Speaker, Executive Vice Presidents, Members of The Elite and the Dark Order, Society of Jericho Appreciators, my fellow AEW fans…
Being that Sonny Kiss had been off TV since 2020 when she lost to Kenny Omega in 26 seconds, I had a Pitch Please! article about 95% completed, pitching a new direction for Sonny’s character. But given that we finally got to see Kiss not only on TV this past Rampage but join the Trustbuster’s stable, I’m going to put that one on the back burner for now.
If you have any questions as to me writing an article on Sonny Kiss for the AEW Women’s Division Blog, please consult this article:
So I was at Quake By The Lake in Minneapolis and interestingly enough, my section was pretty well represented by the LGBTQ+ community and vocal allies. They were really sweet people who my partner and I visited with a bit too. I bring them up because their appreciation for Nyla Rose was heightened compared to some others when she came out and this went maybe doubly when we all found out on Dynamite that Sonny Kiss was having a match on Rampage. “Finally!” was the consensus mood.
When Sonny Kiss jobbed to Park Boudreaux in mere seconds, the vibe had definitely soured… It was worse than pissed, it was despondent. I can distinctly remember hearing “Of all the people on the roster to do this to…”. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for us to “Let it play out” as Sonny Kiss returned at the end of the show, looking like she was in search of revenge on Parker Boudreaux when she instead kicked Orange Cassidy in the dingleberries, joining The Trustbusters. While we would have preferred on the night to see Sonny Kiss have a competitive match, we agreed that having Sonny Kiss join this new stable meant a lot more as far as Sonny Kiss becoming a presence on TV.
Online, having already watched this episode of Rampage live, I recognized the familiar pattern of fans being despondent about Sonny Kiss’ fate versus Parker Boudreaux followed by reactions ranging from people being happy that Sonny Kiss will presumably now get on TV to people not happy with this direction. The latter of those reactions reminded me so much of when Daniel Garcia joined the Jericho Appreciation Society. It’s a take I had while sitting in the Target Center but held off Tweeting it until Rampage had aired.
I’ve referenced this before about AEW fans, but we can be impatient when the path forward is ambiguous. When Bryan Danielson brought up the idea that would eventually become the Blackpool Combat Club to Jon Moxley, fans immediately penciled in Daniel Garcia to be in this group because he already fit so well and a lot of them were upset when that didn’t happen. As it turns out though, Garcia joining the JAS looks like the wiser decision as it has allowed him to show a wider range to his character, beyond just being a great technical wrestl– sports entertainer.
For weeks, some AEW fans have been clamouring for Sonny Kiss to be one of Jade Cargill’s Baddies. Obviously Sonny fits in with the Baddie vibe and expanding The Baddies to having members who also compete in the Men’s division could’ve been interesting. Although I have a feeling that The Baddies in their current form are not long for this world as I suspect Jade Cargill will be a babyface before long. But like Daniel Garcia joining the BCC, it’d be a doubling down of what we already know about Sonny Kiss.
Now obviously, Ari Daivari is no Chris Jericho. The Trust Busters are starting from a much lower rung than the JAS. So where Jericho can immediately elevate an act by putting them over in a single promo, this whole act will need to elevate each other together. But when I take a few minutes and consider the diversity of the Trust Busters and how these pieces may end up interacting and augment each other, some pretty exciting ideas start coming to mind.
I’ll leave it here with the tease that I’m considering a Pitch Please! article detailing some creative pitches for Sonny Kiss in the Trust Busters. Some of which would be stealing from the article on Sonny that I was writing but there’s some new ideas that come to mind when I think about how Sonny might interact with each of Ari Daivari, Slim J and Parker Boudreaux.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and, as always, make sure you tell the women in your life how much you appreciate them.
