By Dan, Wrestling Spot Editor
Ahead of the clash between AEW World Tag Team Champions, Jurassic Express and long-time rivals, the Young Bucks, we take a look at the amazing Jungle Boy’s rise to the top in AEW and re-visit some of his best moments so far.
1. JungleBoy vs. Chris Jericho
When AEW began in 2019, much attention of the new promotion logically centred on the legendry Chris Jericho who became their first ever World Champion. Jungle Boy was one of the company’s bright young stars who fans were looking forward to seeing develop. It was testament to Jungle Boy’s talent and potential that the decision was taken to have him work with Le Champion so soon. During a in-ring promo dubbed ‘The Lexicon of Le Champion’ (a play on the famous List of Jericho), Chris Jericho proceeded to list all the people he refused to wrestle in the year 2019. Suddenly, they were then interrupted by the arrival of the Jurassic Express stable. As the clip shows Jericho proceeded to insult all three members of the Jurassic Express, before telling Jungle Boy he was ‘a piece of s*it’ and declaring he could not last ten minutes with him. Not only did Jungle Boy then immediately take down Le Champion that night sending him running from the ring, but in the subsequent ten-minute challenge that followed on from this, he lasted the full ten minutes. In that performance he showed his toughness and never quit mentality that he has become known for.
Credit- AEW/TNT.
2. Jungle Boy wins Battle Royal (AEW Double or Nothing 2021)
AEW Double or Nothing 2021 was a special pay-per view with many memorable moments and, of course was the first AEW event since the start of the pandemic to go ahead with a full crowd. A star-studied battle was held to determine a future contender for the AEW World Championship. Names involved included Christian Cage, Matt Hardy, Dustin Rhodes and the surprise joker entrant- Lio Rush. Things looked tricky for Jungle Boy when he was left in the match with Matt Hardy and Private Party (of Hardy’s then HFO Stable) in the match. However, with Private Party soon eliminated, Cage caused a shock by throwing old rival Matt Hardy over the top of the ropes after seemingly having made a pact with him to do the very same to Jungle Boy. A thrilling finale seen the crowd erupt as Jungle Boy’s acrobatic grace helped him to overcome the veteran and win the Battle of Royal. Arms were waving, a chorus of his Tarzan Boy entrance music broke out and his Jurrasic Express teammates and future ally, Cage himself would all congratulate him as the crowd celebrated and chanted ‘You deserve it.’ An emotional Jungle Boy left the scene reminding us of the special connection he has with AEW fans.
3. Jungle Boy vs. Kenny Omega (for the AEW World Championship)
The build up to the encounter between Jungle Boy and Kenny Omega, who at this time had looked unassailable as AEW World Champion, was almost as memorable as the epic match between the pair on AEW Dynamite. This included, much to the crowds delight, Jungle Boy interrupting one of Kenny Omega and Dom Callis promos questioning his champion credentials with the star proceeding to tell Omega that ‘he talks way too much’ before locking in his signature snaretrap with the Young Bucks needed to rescue Omega. The match itself elevated Jungle Boy as a wrestler, he took the match to Omega and at times dominated, with the crowd excited as he again went for his signature move. Sadly, it wasn’t to be with Omega eventually winning but we were left in no doubt that the day will one day come in which Jungle Boy is a singles World Champion.
4. Jurassic Express & Christian Cage vs. The Young Bucks & Adam Cole.
The story of this encounter at Full Gear in 2021 was one of redemption for Jungle Boy. He had been in some senses robbed of tag-team gold in a previous encounter with the Young Bucks that summer before being as yet unable to overcome Adam Cole in the feud that developed from ‘Bay-Bay’s’ surprise entrance at All Out. A falls-count anywhere was a intriguing stipulation for Jungle Boy who finally had chance to challenge any critics who sensed he was ‘too nice’ for such gruelling and gritty encounters. There was a moment early in the match when he hesitated to use a chair on an opponent, only later to become victim to thumb-tacks being placed in his mouth. After a sensational sequence in which Jungle Boy supplexed Nick Jackson, Cage speared Matt Jackson and Luchasaurus shooting star pressed onto everyone, Jungle Boy got his redemption. As Christian Cage got the conchairto ready for Matt, Jungle Boy stepped in and wanted to do it. He did, earned the victory and in a symbolic moment in his journey- the sentiment ‘Jungle Boy becomes Jungle Man’ seemed to be commonly shared on social media that night.
Caption- All Elite Wrestling, You Tube
5. Jungle and Luchasaurus win the AEW World Tag Team Championship’s
The momentum had grown and grown with Jurassic Express and it was a surprise in some quarters when the Lucha Bros were the ones, as opposed to Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, to overcome the Young Bucks (all be it in true style with a sensational steel cage match that will live long in the memory.) There was therefore obvious excitement when a match between the Lucha Bros and Jurrasic Express for the first AEW Dynamite of the TBS Era on January 5th this year. During an enthralling encounter at times, Jurassic Express looked like they may lose, only for Jungle Boy to kick out at the last second with Jim Ross perhaps best summing it up with his ‘The Jungle Boy does not quit’ line on commentary. In the end, after Luchasaurus and Ray Fenix went through a table it was down to Jungle Boy and Penta to fight it out with the former reversing a move to secure the pin and decisive victory. In emotional scenes, with his mum and sister looking on from the crowd, Jungle Boy celebrated with Luchasaurus and Christian Cage as ‘Tarzan Boy’ rang out around the arena. They have been on one hell of a title defence run since and I will not be disappointed one bit if we hear ‘and STILL AEW World Tag Team Champions’ at the end of tonight’s match.
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