Major AEW star to turn heel and shockingly join Christian Cage's faction? Exploring potential twist
Christian Cage has emerged as one of AEW's top heels over the past couple of years. The Patriarch's ability, as a villainous character, to manipulate wrestlers into shattering their former alliances to join forces with him has led wrestling fans to speculate on the likelihood of an up-and-coming star turning heel and aligning with Cage and The Patriarchy. The talent in question is none other than HOOK.
Ahead of the five-year anniversary edition of Dynamite, AEW revealed on X/Twitter that Taz would be unable to perform commentary for the show as the wrestling veteran and announcer had been attacked in the parking lot. The Human Suplex Machine later promised retribution on social media, and in a backstage segment with Renee Paquette, an emotional HOOK promised to find out the identity of the assailant and to avenge his father.
Interestingly, immediately following the warning issued by the former FTW Champion, AEW aired a promo delivered by Christian Cage, in which he declared himself to be the next AEW World Champion, and vowed to take it all, "Hook, line and sinker."
The timing of the broadcast of the promo package, combined with Christian seemingly alluding to his name, has now led a section of fans on social media to speculate on the possibility of HOOK being revealed to be the individual who attacked Taz. The speculation was driven by HOOK's possible kayfabe desire for a superior mentor and father figure like Cage, whose stable-mates have both recently held championship gold in AEW.
Such an angle could turn The Cold-Hearted Handsome Devil into a massive heel, and potentially raise the budding star's stock in the company significantly. It could also lead to HOOK eventually feuding with his former on-screen mentor and rival Samoa Joe, who could try to punish the New York native for hurting Taz, his former manager in TNA.
AEW commentator Taz set to undergo surgery soon
After All Elite Wrestling announced that Taz had been assaulted and would be unable to work the five-year anniversary episode of Dynamite, it was reported that the storyline was meant to cover up for the ECW legend's knee replacement surgery.
The 56-year-old veteran has now seemingly confirmed rumors of his upcoming procedure, taking to X/Twitter to reveal that the surgery may keep him off of All Elite programming for some time.
"Unfortunately, I will be out for awhile. I’ll be having total knee replacement surgery very soon. Talk to you guys down the road," he wrote.
It remains to be seen how AEW will execute this ongoing angle involving HOOK, Taz, and the latter's mystery assailant moving forward.