Matt Riddle and 6 WWE, AEW Stars Trending in the Wrong Direction

Matt Riddle's recent rough patch with WWE has included several high-profile losses.Credit: WWE.com

For as many stars thriving right now in WWE and All Elite Wrestling, there are a number of others who are struggling to find that same success, largely through no fault of their own.

The Triple H era of WWE Creative has seen several Superstars involved in more important matches and angles than they were previously. The product remains far from perfect, but it's apparent that more opportunities are being offered.

Despite that, an unfortunate few aren't being focused on quite as strongly as they once were and are worse off than they were at the onset of 2023.

It's a similar story for some members of the AEW roster as well. Whether it's a lack of direction, less-than-stellar storylines or just bad booking, the company hasn't been immune to certain wrestlers falling out of favor with management, either.

These six stars have been noticeably less over with the audience in recent months and must avoid continuing to trend in the wrong direction.

Matt Riddle was among the first Superstars to undergo an attitude adjustment and character overhaul upon Triple H taking the reins of WWE Creative.

He was mostly depicted as a comedy character after tag team partner Randy Orton went down with an injury, but his grudge feud with Seth Rollins that stretched from last summer into the fall allowed him to adopt an aggressive edge and prove himself as someone to take seriously.

However, The Original Bro's absence from WWE TV in the first four months of 2023 squashed any momentum he had left coming off his Fight Pit win over Rollins at Extreme Rules. Worse yet, he wasn't treated as much of a priority once he was ready to return after WrestleMania 39.

Multiple losses to Solo Sikoa and Gunther in the months that followed cemented his spot in the midcard, a direct contrast to his rapid ascent this time one year ago.

His recent defeat against Ludwig Kaiser of Imperium showed that WWE doesn't intend to feature him prominently again any time soon.

When he won the Face of the Revolution ladder match on March 1 this year followed by the TNT Championship a week later, it looked like Powerhouse Hobbs was finally on the verge of singles stardom in AEW.

It was the same night he took the title from Wardlow that he aligned with QT Marshall. But their pairing proved to be a step down for Hobbs, who was already getting over with the audience organically and didn't need a manager (let alone one of Marshall's caliber) to do the talking for him.

Hobbs has consistently held his own when sharing the ring with all of AEW's top talent and would be a fresh face in the upper-midcard. Being on Collision should help him land more television time and not get lost in the shuffle as easily.

Wardlow currently finds himself in a similar spot to Hobbs in that he was riding high as TNT champion earlier this year, only to lose the title and disappear from programming entirely.

It was only a year ago that the 35-year-old was at the peak of his popularity stemming from his big win over MJF at Double or Nothing 2022. He held the title three separate times in the span of nine months, but each reign was more forgettable than the last.

His push was officially abandoned when he lost the belt to Luchasaurus on the premiere edition of Collision on June 17. The next logical step would have been to move him to the main event scene, but there have been zero signs of AEW utilizing him at that level.

In short, the TNT Championship did much more to hinder Wardlow's career than help it. He has yet to reach the point of no return, but he'll have to get back on TV in order to come close to reaching the same heights he was once at.

The slow, gradual descent of Austin Theory in WWE has been incredibly confusing and concerning when you consider where he was on the card just a few months ago.

Experiencing the highest of highs along with lowest of lows immediately afterward has essentially been the story of his entire WWE career, but it has been especially evident with A-Town in 2023.

Theory started the year with wins over Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio, Edge and even John Cena while United States champion, only to be phased down immediately after WrestleMania 39. His match with Cena was a disappointing dud, and he wasn't booked to benefit from the victory whatsoever.

It's been a steady decline for Theory since then as he's hardly featured on SmackDown and is made to look like an afterthought whenever he is. He fell out of favor with officials following the feud with Cena and has done nothing to stand out as special to convince the audience he's worthy of their time.

Theory will defend the star-spangled prize against Santos Escobar on Friday's SmackDown, and losing it might be the best thing for him to make way for another character reboot of some sort.

The AEW women's division on the whole needs some serious work, and having the ladies headline Dynamite in back-to-back weeks has been a step in the right direction.

However, the curious case of Britt Baker should be one of the first issues addressed.

The division was built around The Good Doctor from the get-go, and to her credit, she rose to the occasion and evolved into the top heel that was needed. She was one of AEW's most must-see stars for a good while and received strong crowd reactions up until recently.

Removing her from the AEW Women's World Championship picture was the best thing the promotion could have done, but there wasn't a definitive babyface turn beyond her embracing the audience.

Baker basically became Jamie Hayter's sidekick in a lot of ways, and while that was the right role for her at that point, she continued appearing on television consistently without any depth being added to her on-air act.

Consequently, the 32-year-old has felt stagnant for some time and directionless for months. Her feud with The Outcasts was never resolved properly, leaving her to spin her wheels and pop up every few weeks on Dynamite for a quick cameo.

As a character, this is the least interesting she's ever been, and it's not as if her matches have been strong enough to make up for it, either.

Becky Lynch is and will always be The Man. That's why her comeback from injury as a babyface late last year was the correct direction to go in, but the follow-up has been fairly underwhelming.

She hasn't had an off year because she's been out of the main title picture. In fact, it's been refreshing for her to be having non-title stories with equally notable names instead.

Rather, it's that the two rivalries she's had this past year have fallen below expectations.

Her bad blood with Damage CTRL lasted longer than it needed to and fizzled out by WrestleMania, while the Trish Stratus storyline is running on fumes at this point. Neither rivalry hit the next gear despite the immense amount of talent involved.

The Man will emerge every week on Raw, address the audience and possibly compete, but she just doesn't have the same spark she did before going on maternity leave in 2020. The promos are solid but unspectacular, and she isn't the attraction she once was.

Of course, Lynch remains integral to the success of the women's division and it's been a treat seeing her work with the younger talent, but she needs something exceptional to remind the world why she's the undisputed face of the women's division before she slips even further into obscurity.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.