Kyle Fletcher doesn’t seem like much of a villain. The 26-year-old pro wrestler has a boyish face and speaks with an endearing Aussie accent. But last fall, he turned Judas. In a pay-per-view for All Elite Wrestling, Fletcher transformed into a full-fledged bad guy (a “heel turn” in wrestling parlance), taking a screwdriver to the back of the head of his longtime mentor, Will Ospreay, which has led to some of the most gripping bouts you’ll ever see. Forget Fletcher’s charm: He was born to play the baddie.

With every increasingly high-profile match, Fletcher has received more screen time on AEW Dynamite, the flagship weekly show of All Elite Wrestling on TBS and Max. All the while, he is emerging as one of the most technically proficient and charismatic pro wrestlers on any circuit, demonstrating highflying moves that evoke the video game Street Fighter. (His signature maneuver involves climbing to the top rope with an opponent, turning him over, then dropping him headfirst straight onto the corner turnbuckle.) Now add to that his character work as a heel — he shaved his head on live TV to illustrate his newfound dastardly persona — and this may be the year AEW entrusts Fletcher with championship gold. “I have this internal feeling that I’m supposed to be the best at this,” he tells me at the gym in Palatine where he trains.

Fletcher, an Australian native who wrestled out of the U.K. for a while, moved here in 2023, when he bought a house in Schaumburg with his partner, Skye Blue, a fellow up-and-coming wrestler and a Chicago native. (Part of Chicago’s allure, says Fletcher, who often travels twice a week for AEW, is the convenience of O’Hare: “I’ve had no layovers in the last three months.”) His ring performances have won him plenty of cred among wrestling die-hards he runs into around town. “They’re just lovely, every interaction I’ve had,” Fletcher says. “Even if they’re booing me.”