When it comes to professional wrestling, there is nothing more powerful than a driving force behind a wrestlers psyche. Whether it is of a higher power, their own drive and intuition, or someone to not hold their hand, but to direct their path in their own fashion. When it comes to professional wrestling, we take a look at the wrestling manager.
Managers in wrestling are hard to come by in recent years, at least, ones that truly talk that talk for their clients, so those clients can walk that walk to championship glory. Usually when managers come to mind, you would think of Paul Heyman, Bobby Heenan, Miss Elizabeth, Jimmy Hart, Paul Bearer, Sensational Sherri, Teddy Long… Every single manager (I will not refer to the women as valets, as they were coined that in professional wrestling as well, but seems a bit demoting if I were to use that term) has led their chosen star(s) to a title belt and the winner’s purse (and their cut of it, should it come to that). But to me, personally, there is one manager that not only gets a reaction from that of a professional wrestler, but it seems that every client he has graced his presence and knowledge with, his touch turns to gold that radiates a certain aura that seems blinding to their opponents. This manager in question is Don Callis.
The 61-year-old at the time of this writing, is one of the most devious managers in the business, and I mean that in a good way. As he paid his dues as a professional wrestler named Cyrus (shortened from Cyrus the Virus), which is among the many wrestling aliases he worked as, the Canadian went on to a more executive route of his professional wrestling career, after he finished university for his Masters in Business Administration. This certain achievement in his life may have given him the key to create the palace he wanted to rule as a wrestling manager. In the end, management is still a business ploy to gather the newest recruits and train them how to gain success in their career paths. And this brings us to the antidote of the virus, which are the leadership laurels that Don Callis still has in uniform.
In from 1993-2016, Don Callis wrestled in many avenues, some while also being managed himself. He had a manager in the late Golden Sheik, not to be mistaken by the late Iron Sheik, who just so happened to be the real life uncle of AEW Executive Vice President, Kenny Omega. The family affair of the Smith (Omega) family has been one of the more personal outlooks onto the story of Callis. As time moved on, Callis retired from professional wrestling in the ring, and Callis started commentary from 2017-2019 for New Japan Pro Wrestling. But one thing remained for sure: he wanted to make his name known in some form of fashion, even though it took him 31 years after his wrestling debut to do so.
In 2020, while the physical world was quiet, the world of professional wrestling was as loud as a jet engine, as AEW’s Winter Is Coming event was coming to its end. That was when Don Callis was a special guest commentator for the main event match of Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship. This is when the Cycle of Callis finally made its genesis. With a screwdriver and a 3-count by the referee, Kenny Omega became the AEW World Heavyweight Champion, with the involvement of Don Callis. It was when Don took Kenny under his wing in the start of a new reign and a new partnership within TNA.
While most of us followed along one of the most talked about AEW Championship reigns in AEW history, if there was one thing that was the pinnacle of such a reign is that Don Callis gave Kenny Omega a new character that resembled his past Cleaner persona, with a little touch of his own self. Callis helped Kenny channel a sense of a more raw, extreme type of persona that you would think this was the true Kenny Omega… but then again, it wasn’t. It was the mindset that Callis gave him and the people around him to make Kenny a talking point, even though it was his in-ring performance that told most of the story.
But as Kenny Omega’s reign ended on a devastating note that had him away from multiple injuries in 2021, this did not stop Callis from wanting to give other people a chance to step into the cycle… and it took a person that is mainly called ‘family’ to start a new one.
Enter the Don Callis Family.
The first person to step into the cycle was Kenny Omega’s former friend, Konosuke Takeshita of DDT. At AEW’s Double or Nothing event in 2023, Takeshita attacked Kenny Omega after the final moments of the match against the Blackpool Combat Club, which immediately gave a negative reaction towards not only Takeshita, but Callis himself, who blatantly betrayed Kenny Omega before the formation of the family. It didn’t take much for Takeshita to channel a newer version of himself under Callis, as week after week, he gets more determined to better himself onto bigger stages and face against opponents that even Callis thinks that he deserved to face.
This carried on to Takeshita entering the G1 Climax 34 tournament, representing AEW and DDT respectively. After Eddie Kingston’s honorable performance in G1 Climax 33, AEW may have wanted another star that could go even further in the tournament to represent their promotion. With the cards laid out in front of them, it was Takeshita to enter and actually did better than Eddie Kingston in his G1 run. Kingston ended his G1 Climax debut with 8 points overall in Block C, while Takeshita finished his run with 10 points in his G1 Climax debut in Block B.
The cycle did not stop there, as Takeshita went on for Championship gold as he defeated Will Ospreay and Ricochet in a 3-way match for the AEW International Championship on the 5th Anniversary AEW Dynamite episode, which is the first title reign Takeshita had received in AEW. Takeshita still holds this title at the time of this writing. After several successful defenses, Takeshita continued to gain his own momentum while under the Don Callis Family, even defending the title in other promotions afterwards (namely Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, where Callis is also a commentator there). The cycle continued for Takeshita and Callis as he went for a bigger stage: The Tokyo Dome. At this past Wrestle Kingdom 19, Takeshita faced against Shingo Takagi for the NEVER Openweight Championship, while trying to retain his AEW International Championship simultaneously. This was a title for title match would be a history-making feat for both men. In the end of it all, it was Takeshita to claim his victory in retaining the AEW International Championship and winning the NEVER Openweight Championship title from Takagi. Takeshita now holds 2 championship titles for the first time in his wrestling career, let alone his AEW career.
The influence of Don Callis turned an already successful wrestler from DDT and turned him into a force to be reckoned with, a new sense of aura within Takeshita and a new sense of fear for whoever steps into that ring with him. However, Takeshita isn’t the only person with rising stardom from the knowledge of Callis in his hands.
Kyle Fletcher, formerly of United Empire, also took in account of Callis’ success in both Kenny Omega’s title reign and the early days of Takeshita joining the family, as the Protostar joined the Don Callis Family in October 2023 after Mark Davis suffered a wrist injury. The Protostar also had quick work under Callis as he won the Ring of Honor Television Championship at Final Battle last year. After his reign, he continued to upgrade his charisma and momentum under Callis as a singles competitor. Fast forward to today, Fletcher has worked on his body, mind, and soul in order to become a top star in AEW, and he has done just that, with his new look of a shaved head, his entrance and attire changed dramatically, and has done some match of the year contendership work that can easily say that without the influence of Callis and Mark Davis’s injury, Fletcher would be in a much different place. He also came close to winning the 2024 Continental Classic when he faced Will Ospreay in the semi-finals, which was one of those match of the year contendership matches in that year.
Although there have been several wrestlers that went under the cycle of Callis, some of those wrestlers still improved greatly in ring work and a change in personality.
Sammy Guevara had a brief stint in the Don Callis Family before departing the faction, and now he is currently one-half of the Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions with Dustin Rhodes.
Trent Baretta was one of the recent joinings of the Family, but has since been injured and hasn’t been back in AEW in quite some time now. His new look and demeanor was already present before his injury, and whenever he does return, there may be some high expectations from Baretta after seeing the progress of Fletcher and Takeshita respectively.
The two newest recruits of the Don Callis Family, Lance Archer and Brian Cage, have already became a very dominant unit as a tag team, known as the Murder Monsters. This definitely helped with the use of Lance Archer since he had been appearing and disappearing from AEW TV since his initial signing within the company, with only a few promos here and there. His longest stint in AEW TV was when he was feuding with Moxley for the now-retired IWGP United States Championship.
Brian Cage also has some sort of kickback from joining the Don Callis Family and teaming with Archer, as he is no longer being in The Embassy faction with Swerve Strickland, who is continuing his fast rising stardom as a former AEW World Heavyweight Champion, and the Gates of Agony starting to get their groove back as a tag team in Ring of Honor.
Who is to say that these two men won’t be going for some tag team gold in 2025? Only time will tell, and Callis may be the clock that ticks.
Powerhouse Hobbs, another former Family member was already looked at as a powerful athlete in AEW, having already won the TNT Championship prior to him joining in October 2023. However, after a few major losses and an injury that kept him off the shelf for several months while facing Jon Moxley for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship back in April of 2024, Hobbs was back at square one with the family. However, good grace wasn’t given upon his absence, and as of November 6th, 2024, after defeating Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher with a mystery opponent in Ricochet, this ended his tenure with the Don Callis Family. Over a month later, he would challenge Takeshita for the International Championship at Worlds End, but was unsuccessful. Still, Hobbs still is showing potential regardless of his tribulation of injury that took out him for most of the year, and there may be hope for Hobbs to have gold around his waist once more, even without Callis on the back end.
RUSH is also a well decorated superstar in his own rights, wrestling in Mexico, the United States, among other countries and winning titles across the world. RUSH joined the Don Callis Family in July 2024, but his time with the Family was brief, as he re-formed LFI in November of the same year. RUSH and the LFI were acquired by Jake Roberts in exchange for Lance Archer to join the Don Callis Family instead. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. But with the new formation of LFI, will RUSH finally show up to make his name known in AEW in 2025?
Will Ospreay also had a brief stint with Don Callis, as he joined the Don Callis Family in some sense prior to him signing to AEW in 2024, with Callis being by his side with his match against Chris Jericho at Wembley Stadium. Ospreay, however, has already has had high accolades and expectations even before joining. He won the International Championship, which would be his first title in AEW period, while under Callis, at Double or Nothing. After suffering his first singles loss in AEW at Forbidden Door, soon afterwards, Will Ospreay humbly asked for his departure in the Don Callis Family, which was surprisingly granted by Don Callis himself. Of course, we all know how that turned out in the end.
It seems that Don Callis, regardless of his dark, manipulative ways on management, definitely has some sort of payoff when it comes to the people he has managed since he came to AEW. It is almost has if he has a bit of a Midas effect, with a little bit of underlying sense of knowledge and power, kind of how the serpent had Eve eat the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Life in the Bible. A few offers and promises of glory, and the people who feed into them will take a bite of the fruit Callis has grown and gained a sense of power on their own.
Whether it is from their own experience or from a way of needing a helping hand in their careers, it seems that Don Callis has had a great track record when it has come to his past and current clients in the Don Callis Family, which is something a lot of people don’t realize.
Callis gets booed out of arenas weekly, that even as he breathes, you can hear the boos echoing across all chambers of the building. Then again, I can’t really boo him based on how he manages (or in some cases, betray) his clients based off of what they have done while being mentored by him. To be honest, and this might be a very hot take for most, but Don Callis has become one of the most successful managers since he came to AEW. His members of his faction has either touched gold previously, has gotten gold in recent months, or is currently holding gold (in Takeshita’s stance, 2 belts). It is somewhat of a higher level of interest that Callis’ work should be worthy of note taking. A man who has paid his dues and is now handing some of the pot to others in order to reach for bigger stages and higher avenues, Don Callis, to me, is a symbol of managerial mastery.
As we go into 2025, who knows what or who Callis will obtain next for his Family? All in all, one step into the pool, and you’re entering a whirlpool of possibilities. A whirlpool deemed the Cycle of Callis.
You can follow Melody on Bluesky at @theladyleighton.bsky.social.
