AEW Star Kyle Fletcher Explains How Covid-19 Threatened to Derail His Career (Exclusive)

AEW star Kyle Fletcher is one of the best young wrestlers on the roster and has quickly risen through the ranks in the promotion. He gained attention while still plying his trade for New Japan Pro Wrestling [NJPW] as one-half of the tag team Aussie Open.

However, his path to NJPW wasn't as smooth as he had hoped for it to be. Kyle Fletcher used to wrestle on the independent circuit in the United Kingdom after moving from his hometown of Sydney, Australia, at the tender age of 18. In an exclusive chat with Bill Apter on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, he revealed how Covid-19 threatened to derail his career.

He disclosed that just when he was supposed to make the switch from the Independent Circuit to NJPW, Covid-19 struck, and he had to return home. Fletcher stated that it was a tough time for him as he had to go back to working in a warehouse during that time.

"I moved to the UK at 18 years old, with no family, no friends, no nothing, because they had a great independent scene over there at the time, and it was easy to get a work visa, so I moved over there, things started happening pretty quickly, I got put in a tag team with my tag partner Mark Davison, Aussie Open, started getting a lot of bookings, things were moving really well, and then COVID kind of put a stop on everything. Right before COVID, we were like just about to make the jump to New Japan for the first time. COVID shut everything down, Japan got shut down for a couple years, so we were kind of in this limbo. I had to move back to Australia, back to working in a warehouse," Kyle Fletcher said.

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Kyle Fletcher eventually made the jump to NJPW and achieved a lot of success with the promotion. Both Fletcher and Mark Davis teamed up with Will Ospreay to join United Empire. They even won the IWGP Tag Team Championships and were the inaugural winners of the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed