Don Callis is all over AEW programming. He is an ally for every heel wrestler and has his own faction, the Don Callis family, the main members of which are Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Flecther and Konosuke Takeshita, along with roughly 534 other wrestlers. Callis seems to consider himself as some kind of modern Bobby Heenan, or as AEW’s response to Paul Heyman. He HAD to be a centrepiece of the much-awaited rematches between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada, or Omega and Ospreay.
But what are the qualities that grant him such a place in the company’s creative plans? What does he bring besides being friends with Omega and being from Winnipeg?
Callis’s idea of heat over-relies on silly gags and shock value. How many more times will he reveal a painting of himself naked? Would anyone argue that him giving screwdrivers to Ospreay at All in made the match better?
Screwdrivers do not make for great work weapons. I am yet to see them used spectacularly, unlike, say, Jon Moxley’s forks.
Those look dangerous while being safe enough.
Callis also has the nasty habit of bringing all the attention to himself. A faction made of half of AEW’s roster has to enter with a close-up of his face and a whatever entrance theme.
He ends up being the one doing much of the talking and committing the dastardly acts.
There are two ways by which you can differentiate great heels and annoying ones:
- How babyfaces grow from working with them
- How they get their comeuppance
Most of Don Callis’ feuds end up with the babyface in the same place he was before. The list would be made of most babyfaces in the company, but the most recent example is Mark Briscoe, who feuded with Fletcher only to lose and didn’t get elevated in the process.
Paul Heyman has a face that asks to be punched and regularly gets it, such as when he was thrown on the announce desk by the New Bloodline.
The Don Callis Family is full of talents that, coincidentally, are more entertaining when left to talk on their own.
Callis’s WWE brethren, Paul Heyman, has been accused over the years of leeching to whoever was already popular. Callis does so while holding back a large part of the AEW roster, making them stuck in feuds for one of the one million midcard belts instead of going for the big one.
There are better managers out there than Callis. Prince Nana’s dance and presence helped make Swerve Strickland one of the company’s biggest homegrown stars. Stokely Hathaway helped refresh FTR and make them more entertaining outside of the ring, moving away from promos about their family.
Don Callis has yet to show he can create stars and to justify such a prominent position on WWE programming besides being from Winnipeg.
