AEW’s Kyle Fletcher Opens Up About Skye Blue Relationship & ‘Redemption’

When you look at All Elite Wrestling’s current crop of emerging talent, Kyle Fletcher has one of the biggest upsides. The “Protostar” continues to ascend up the ranks of the company as the current International Champion. He is set to defend the gold against the exciting Bandido at Redemption. 

The 27-year-old Aussie goes into each match looking to steal the show with a good track record of accomplishing just that. His reliability to deliver when given the ball makes him one to watch no matter if it’s a Dynamite, Collision, or a Pay-Per-View like the one that fans will be seeing on July 26. Fletcher currently stands among the breakouts within the Don Callis Family, a faction of athletes where internal competitiveness has created some dissension. 

Outside the ring, Fletcher’s personal life has also been thriving. He and fellow AEW star Skye Blue are one of pro wrestling’s young power couples. Approaching almost four years together while maintaining a successful relationship in such a demanding business is no small feat. Here Fletcher opens up about their connection, as well as taking his career to the next level. 

Kazuchika Okada vs Kyle Fletcher Nashville, TN, AEW Dynamite. (AEW/Ryan Loco)

You returned a few months ago from a leg injury. Do you kind of look at your career a little differently? 

Kyle Fletcher: I think this has been literally my first major injury ever. The first time I’ve ever had to take time off from work, and especially since getting to AEW. It was definitely more so a mental thing for me. I really wanted to make sure that I came back on top of my game. I was firing on all cylinders before I got hurt. People can tell if I’ve missed a step, or at least that’s what I convinced myself. So, I just wanted to make sure that I came back.as good as I possibly could. That was basically my mindset through the whole thing, just pushing myself hard, getting back as quickly as I can, and getting back in top form. Then since coming back, it’s again been a mental thing, just trying to gain that confidence back. And try to feel like the same wrestler. Try and feel confident in that ring, confident in my ability, confident in my instincts in there. I think you need those reps and that familiarity to just get comfortable in the ring. And I think I’m now at that point. I think it took maybe a month to kind of shake off those cobwebs, maybe a little bit of time to just get my headspace right and remind myself like, “You are Kyle Fletcher. You are really awesome at this.”  I feel like we’re back into it now, and I feel like we’re off to the races again.

How is it being in a faction with so many wrestlers in the Don Callis Family? What have you taken from working with Don?

I’ve had a great experience working with Don and the whole family throughout all its iterations. I’m now the longest serving member of the Don Callis family, so I’ve seen it go through a couple of different looks over the years. I think the biggest thing when it comes to having a group of this size is just making sure that everybody has a role to fill. I think Don’s been a really good help in making sure that everybody has something to sink their teeth into. It’s making sure everyone has a distinct role…I don’t know if we’ve ever seen a wrestling faction this big before with this many active wrestlers. So, I think it’s really interesting because now you have the different characters within the group that have to interact with one another, which I think is what you’re seeing with Andrade and then [Konosuke] Takeshita leaving, and then [Kazuchika] Okada coming in, and Kevin Knight coming in. Now it’s like, when someone gets added to the group, there’s almost this feeling of how is this person going to interact with this person? I think it is really cool, and then also helps to tell some more intricate, more layered stories, which I think is really fun to play around with, personally.

There are a lot of couples in the wrestling business. Many in the past have not lasted. What do you think makes you and Skye work so well over the years?

There’s probably a lot of different things. I think the main one is we are the same person in so many different ways. We have our own experiences, and we’ve come up through the wrestling business in different ways, but at the heart of it, we are the same person. We’re both so goofy and silly and love having fun all the time. But then also we’re both very anxious, and we like to overthink everything, and especially within wrestling. It’s so nice to have somebody there that not only understands the wrestling business, but understands you, and what you’re going through and the feelings you’re going through. She’s always there for me exactly when I need it and vice versa. We’re exactly what each other needs at any given point, which I think is awesome. We both love wrestling so much. We are both living our dreams right now, and now we just get to live our dreams together. We have our best friend with us on the road all the time. We couldn’t ask for anything better.

Kyle Fletcher (AEW/Lee South)

I’m sure people are asking this. You’ve been together a while. When are we getting the next step? Have you thought about marriage and all that other stuff? 

Oh, believe me, I’ve been hearing all about it. You know, I don’t want to rush anything. I think we’re both very career focused right now. We’re very focused on developing ourselves as individuals, as human beings, as adults. We’re 26 and 27. We’re still finding our footing in the world. So yeah, we’re just not trying to rush it, and right now, our life is…really, really awesome. It doesn’t feel like there’s a need to rush it, but it will be happening pretty soon, I’m sure.

Do you see any potential of working together on screen? Is that something that you see for the future down the line? 

For me, it was never something that I wanted to push for. We’re a couple behind the scenes, but I don’t think that needs to bleed over to onscreen, but I’m definitely not opposed to it. I think at the right time, with the right story, it could absolutely work. We have that real-life chemistry, which I think.in pro wrestling is very important a lot of the time. You can tell when people have this natural chemistry onscreen. I think it could definitely work if the timing’s right, and I’m definitely open to it. Nothing has been pitched to me or said to me about it. Let the universe do what it will with that.

People are often sharing photos and videos and making GIFs about you two on social media. How do you each take that in?

I think the fun thing for us is we get to share them with each other and kind of laugh about it. We go, “Look at this thing that someone just put on Twitter. It’s my ass in slow motion butt jiggling.” I’m like, “Isn’t this so weird and ridiculous?” Then we laugh about it, and then we just forget about it. It really doesn’t bother me. I think it probably has at points bothered me or her, but I think, you know, open communication in any relationship. I think that is number one, the most important thing. We have that open line of communication if something bothers us, where we talk about it straight away, we get it nipped in the bud. That stuff, it happens so frequently now. It’s just a part of our business, you know? It just kind of is what it is. There’s no point trying to expend too much mental energy on it. If people are going to post weird stuff on the internet, that’s on them.

Kyle Fletcher and Skye Blue

You’re doing well in AEW. I’m seeing a lot of Robert Irwin on TV. Are Aussies having a moment now? 

Hey, shout out Robert Irwin. Man, he is so cool, I love him. Love Robert Irwin. Fantastic. Steve Irwin, when I was in school, before his unfortunate death, rest in peace, he was an absolute Australian icon. I was 6 or 7 when he passed away, and I remember being in school, and people crying about it and everything. Robert’s legacy is living on through him. I think that’s really, really awesome. As far as Aussies, I look at professional wrestling. There’s so many great Australians smashing it all across the professional wrestling world, which is so cool for me. When I started out, even when I started watching wrestling as a kid, there were no Australians at the top level, literally zero. It just wasn’t even a realm of possibility. Hearing an interview with Vince McMahon doing media loops for the house shows they would do in Australia. An interviewer asked Vince McMahon if he ever thought  he’d see an Australian on WWE television? And he was like, “I hate that accent.” And I was like, “Oh, awesome. Yeah, great. Cool.” That feels really good as an eight-year-old to hear.

Dream crushed.

It really didn’t feel like a possibility for a lot of my life. So, not only for me to now be successful in the industry…if you can say that I’m successful in the industry, whatever, I don’t like saying that about myself. But the fact that there are so many Australians now at the top level, killing it, making a living, living their dream. It’s so cool for me because now I know that. The people starting out in Australia, the fans that are watching in Australia, will see us and think that it’s possible. These kids will believe that their dream is possible. That’s what I hope, anyway. I hope people think that because that’s all I did. I chased a dream, and I ended up here somehow. Australians, I think, are very lovable characters. They’re very over-the-top natured. I think seeing them break out into the mainstream, it only makes sense. Just the personalities of Australians in general are very fun, very laid back.

Speaking of Robert Irwin, would you want to do a Dancing with the Stars like he did, or any other show of that?

I would love to do Dancing with the Stars. I think Australia now has I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Outta Here!  as well, which is like getting lost in the jungle or whatever. Then I grew up watching Dancing with the Stars with my mum, so to do a show like that would also be a dream come true. I think it would be awesome to do it at some point for sure.

You always carry yourself. Is there anyone that you look towards when it comes to representing a company and doing all the things that come with the job beyond wrestling? 

That’s a good question. I don’t think that there is a specific person that I draw inspiration from. I’ve always kind of had this thought in my mind. You know the phrase like dress for the job you want, not the job you have. I’ve kind of always taken that to heart. Ike if I want to be the world champion, if I want to be the top guy, what do those people look like? And those people are always dressed in the nicest suits; they have Rolexes on their wrists. That’s kind of how a champion has to carry themselves. If I want to be that top guy, if I want to be the poster boy, if I want to be doing…you know, all the media leading up to Wembley Stadium for All In, all that kind of stuff. I think I have to carry myself a certain way, and I want to prove to the company that they can rely on me. I want to be reliable; I want to make sure that people know. That I am really good at my job. That I’m really good at. Being an ambassador for AEW. That I’m a good representation of what the company is, and what the company represents, what it’s striving to achieve. I just want to be at the forefront of that. So, I think, if I want to be at the forefront, I have to be that guy, and I will continue to be that guy till I am that guy, you know?

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What can we expect from your match with Bandido at Redemption? 

Bandido is somebody that I think for a lot of last year, there were a few people that everyone was saying like, “Oh, this is the best in-ring wrestler of the year.” Bandido was a name that popped up a lot. Someone who brings consistency in the top-level matches. I’ve never faced Bandido one-on-one. We’ve had, I think, now. Two or three different tag matches over the years. Every time I get to get in there with him, there’s a little bit of chemistry there, I can feel that. It’s always really cool for me because I’m striving to be the absolute best when you can get in there with someone. That you can also tell is at the top of their game. This has the makings of something spectacular. There’s a little bit more animosity behind it now. I really want to prove that I’m the greatest International Champion of all time, I’m going to be the greatest International Champion of all time, and I think a big W over Bandido, the Ring of Honor World Champion and one of the best in the world, does a great job being added to my resume. I’m going out there to do anything and everything it takes to get that W. With everyone banned, I am totally on my own, and I will…I will do it all on my own.

AEW Redemption, July 26, 7/6c, Pay-Per-View & HBO Max