AR Fox has been electrifying wrestling fans ever since he transitioned from backyard wrestling to professional wrestling 18 years ago. Fox’s high-flying, acrobatic style has made him one of the most entertaining wrestlers to have never made it big in the sport. Can AEW finally rectify that and make Fox a star like they did for the likes of MJF, Darby Allin, Jack Perry, Orange Kassidy, and Britt Baker before him? Does Tony Khan even know what he has in Fox?
Fox got his start at Curtis Hughes’ wrestling school and World Wrestling Alliance 4 promotion in Atlanta. From there he progressed to WWE’s developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling. Born Thomas Ballester, the Connecticut native settled on the moniker AR Fox when it became obvious to him that, due to his smaller stature, he would have to outfox his opponents. Fox spent years navigating the indies in organizations like Prime Time Pro Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA, Evolve, Full Impact Pro, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and Lucha Underground. Here are some highlights.
During his 15 years traveling the indies, the high-flyer faced or teamed with current industry mainstays like Kevin Owens, Ricochet, Sami Callahan, the Young Bucks, Johnny Gargano, Jon Moxley, Sanada, Swerve Strickland, Rey Fenix, and others. He has held singles gold in promotions all over the United States, as well as tag team and trios titles. In late 2022, AEW finally took notice and signed Fox to a contract.
Fox has yet to hold gold in AEW. Khan has mainly used him as enhancement talent, a trios partner, and a middle-man or hired gun in feuds between other wrestlers. Even in those roles, Fox has shined, as illustrated in his match against AEW World Heavyweight Champion Moxley on last week’s episode of Collision.
Fox is over with the fans and can put on a good match with almost anyone. With 18 years in the business, and the added bonus of being the head trainer at WWA4 (where he started), Fox is a boon to any roster he finds himself on. He is a safe worker that promoters can put in the ring with anyone of any size. Fox’s real talent, though, is his sometimes unorthodox, high-flying, acrobatic style in the ring. He can match wrestlers like Ricochet, Darby Allin, Dragon Lee, and Dante Martin in that department as you can see again below.
At one point, Khan started to book Fox with Top Flight as a trio, and that had some promise. Three high-fliers on one team made for an attraction that could have been quite marketable, but Khan never pulled the trigger on a trios title for the group. Many argue that AEW already has too many titles, but Khan could get a lot of run out of adding a cruiserweight division. If he stocked that division with wrestlers like Fox, Ricochet, Hologram, Dante Martin, Action Andretti, Kommander, Lio Rush, and the many luchadors that AEW brings in from CMLL, they could put on some electrifying matches.
Fox would also make a great tag partner for someone like Ricochet, Kommander, Scorpio Sky, or Hologram to make a run at the tag team titles. He can do a cutter from a million different launching points and angles, so putting together a combination finisher with someone like that would be easy. The tag team could start as a singles feud that builds mutual respect between the future partners.
AR Fox is so entertaining to watch and so underutilized. It is a shame that he doesn’t ever get pushed as a singles wrestler or in a tag team. Imagine what Tony Khan could do with Scorpio Sky (who is just sitting in catering right now) and Fox as a tag team. Imagine the cruiserweight matches that AEW could have between Kommander and Sky, or Hologram and Sky. Khan praised Fox’s work on AEW’s Dark and Elevation YouTube shows before the company’s new deal with Warner Brothers Discovery nixed those shows.
I hope for Fox’s sake that Khan realizes soon just how much more he could be getting from Fox. Khan has squandered a lot of talent that has eventually left the company (see Miro and Malakai/Aleister Black) or just faded into the shadows (like Sky and Danhausen). Fans, myself included, would love to see Fox get a chance to shine while he is still in his prime. The man is truly fun to watch.
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