Josh Alexander is the right guy to dethrone Christian Cage as IMPACT World Champion.
Ever since making his debut in March, Christian Cage has been underwhelming in his short run in AEW. He’s had some okay feuds with groups like Team Taz and the Hardy Family Office and has got to tangle up with the likes of Powerhouse Hobbs, Private Party and more – but something has been off in his short run with the company so far.
The former 2x World Heavyweight Champion is in the midst of his most exciting feud yet, a feud which saw him wrestle Kenny Omega on the debut episode of Rampage. This match was said by many to be Cage’s best match in the company so far, and it was the match where he beat Omega and was crowned the new Impact World Champion.
I personally feel it’s a bit premature to talk about Christian losing the belt. Especially considering he just won the title, and he’s bringing some new eyes and attention upon the Impact product. But let’s be honest with ourselves here – there isn’t a single guy on the Impact roster that should dethrone Christian Cage other than Josh Alexander.
Josh Alexander’s history
Alexander debuted with Impact as a part of The North with Ethan Page in 2019. The duo had been a tag team for eight years prior to this and had done some work with ROH, PWG, and a few Canadian based independents.
Both Page and Alexander flourished in this role, and that’s an understatement. Page played the part of being an egotistical mouthpiece while Alexander was the bruiser who did the heavy lifting in the ring. It was a perfect pairing and led to a Impact Tag Team Championship reign that still stands as the longest in company history.
Things were going good and only getting better for The North until they weren’t. Ethan Page left the company in January 2021 after his contract expired which left Josh Alexander without a tag partner. For a two month period after Page’s departure, Alexander was swimming in the “pool of nothing”. He had a few matches here and there but didn’t really participate in any compelling or interesting stories.
At the No Surrender special on 02/13/2021, Alexander won a Triple Threat Revolver match to become the #1 Contender for the X-Division Championship.
Alexander won this match over guys like Trey Miguel, Chris Bey, Ace Austin and Blake Christian, so it was only a sign of things to come for the “Walking Weapon”.
Unfortunately the following week, Alexander would lose his title match against then champion TJP. Two months later Alexander would win a singles match against TJP, who had lost the title to Ace Austin prior. This set up a huge triple threat match for the Rebellion PPV, pitting Alexander vs. TJP vs. Ace Austin for the X-Division Championship. In one of my favorite matches of the year, Alexander won and became the new X-Division Champion.
The X-Division Championship is synonymous with some wrestling legends like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels and Jay Lethal. The title has also helped launch the careers of guys like Suicide, Trevor Lee, and Kazarian into the next level.
Josh Alexander vs. Christian Cage is the way to go
Josh Alexander is bringing prestige and importance back to the X-Division – something that I feel the championship hasn’t carried in some time. Alexander’s character arch/story is quite simple. He’s just a guy who likes to wrestle and kick ass. It works very well, and I’d say that Alexander’s presentation portrays a younger Kurt Angle.
Alexander has kept busy in the 123 days he has been champion and has defended the title 12 times across four promotions, defeating guys like El Phantasmo, Ace Austin and even having a 60 Minute Iron Man match with TJP (again, one of my favorite matches of the year.)
If you’ve ever kept up with Impact/TNA, you’ll know about “Option C”.
Option C is a concept in which the current X Division Champion may voluntarily vacate the championship in exchange for a World Championship match. People among the likes of Chris Sabin, Austin Aries and Brian Cage have all used this option successfully and went on to be World Champion for the company.
While the concept hasn’t been used since 2018, Josh Alexander is the right guy to revive the rule and cash in his X-Division Championship for a shot at the Impact World Title. It ensures that Alexander loses the belt without taking a loss and allows him to become number one contender in a sensical way.
I feel like Christian should get a few title defenses under his belt before he drops the title. With the Victory Road Impact Plus special coming up, Christian will be defending the belt against Ace Austin at that show. Austin was one of the guys I really wanted Kenny Omega to face in his reign, but I’m excited to see his match against Christian. I feel that Christian should drop the belt to Alexander at Impact special later on in the fall, which will allow “Captain Charisma” to face some other great competitors like Trey Miguel, Chris Sabin, Chris Bey and more. Originally I would say that Alexander should cash in his shot at Bound For Glory, but he recently made a X-Division open challenge to any AEW star for that show.
In my opinion, Alexander has been the M-V-P of the Impact product this year aside from Kenny Omega.
Alexander took an awkward tag team breakup with Ethan Page and has turned it into the best singles run of his entire career. I’m excited to see where they take Alexander’s story going forward.
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