Anthony Bowens & Max Caster

[7.0] "As the Acclaimed, they were a great tag team, much like the New Age Outlaws. Bowens is the better in-ring worker, and Max is better on the microphone. As they are now? Not that great. Everyone loved the Acclaimed, but the ship has sailed now."

[8.0] "Charisma set to max. Bowens is an excellent wrestler, so much so that there's probably an argument to be made for a strong solo run with him. Caster is a bit in his shadow in the ring but less so on the mic. Together they balance themselves out personally, and have been a highlight of every AEW show I've attended. It is hard to undersell just how electric it is to see them in person this is a group that can have you believing anything and everything with their mic and ring work. They made me a big fan with their chase towards the titles they made good heels but I think they make even better punky, rebellious faces but I also think they still have their best work waiting for them. Edit: I've lowered my score very slightly since the original review because, honestly, I think they've ran a little too long with the "Will they stay together? " hints and Bowens has absolutely outgrown Caster (and honestly, Gunn) by this point."

[4.0] "Here we have a tag team that are basically what if The New Age Outlaws and John Cena's "Dr. of Thuganomics" gimmick where morphed together. While we're at it, Anthony Bowens would be the Billy Gunn of the team while Max Caster is the Road Dogg of the team. Max is the obnoxious one who cuts the same annoying promo every week while Bowens is the big guy who has actual talent and has potential, let's just hope Bowens can do better on his own than Billy did after NAO. Anyways, Max Caster was what really brought the team down with his insufferable raps he'd do every week where he'd try his hardest with making pop culture references and come off "edgy" by saying something that could be seen as "offensive." While Billy Gunn being brought in the group did get them even hotter, but it was a mere flash in the pan and got old very quickly, don't even get me started on the "scissoring" shtick... Anyways, I'll end it here by saying that The Acclaimed are, essentially, one hit wonders who weren't even that good to begin with who overstayed their welcome."

[3.0] "The standard definition of what it means to be a one trick pony, I am someone who likes grounded wrestling and thus over the top sports entertainment gimmicks don't really gel well with me but these guys got me on the scissor me train back in 2022 during the peak of their popularity, the pairing with Billy gunn as well as the energy they bought into the arena was infectious and they were amongst the highlights of every dynamite they showed up in for me. But then a mix of questionable booking and people getting sick of the one dimensional act meant it was all downhill from there they lost the tag titles and were lost in the shuffle a bit before being given the trios belt which they didn't do anything at all with during their record setting reign, then the pairing with Jay white and co. Happened and Honestly the less said about that the better. These guys haven't evolved at all in the past year they've been doing the same routine couple that with Max caster being an insufferable edge Lord and you get a tag team that nobody is rooting for."

[5.0] "Talk about a tag team who have badly over stayed their welcome. They should have split about 2 years ago but are still going on the fumes of their former popularity in a division that is completely dead on its arse. I guess they keep them together to sell some merch. Outside of the rap, is anyone excited to see them when their music hits?"

[8.0] "The Acclaimed is a fun and solid tag team considering that there still pretty new. They were solid tag team champions and are very entertaining. The rap stuff has ran stale but they still put on good matches. They have solid mic skills and are still super over with the crowd, but my main problem is Billy Gunn teaming with them. Their Trios title reign was very formulaic with Billy always getting the pin and it felt very lackluster. However as a tag team I still really enjoy them."

[8.0] "Crazy how young and inexperienced they are as a tag team. Best thing AEW Dark has produced. They are completely over with the crowd and still improving every time you see them. They ooze charisma. Think they can grow into superstars whether as singles stars or as a tag team. Update: unfortunately after a very hot period they have come back to earth with the bang bang scissor gang and being off tv more than they were on tv. Still good in the ring and very charismatic"

[5.0] "This team just annoys me at this point. I think the raps suck, and I don't really feel like Billy Gunn is a good fit with them, it seems like he was just thrown in with them to give him something to do. They aren't bad individual wrestlers or anything, but I don't like their shtick."

[7.0] "The Acclaimed was so good in their popularity prime, these guys were very unique and able to organically stay over with the audience, just with their charisma, but unfortunately with the time and specially with Max Caster's downfall they fell really bad, I would love to watch an Anthony Bowens singles run, though."

[7.0] "A tag team/trio that has high highs but cringy lows. Focusing on the main tag team, they both pass in the ring but neither really stand out above their peers. I don't know if I could support either of them on their own, but together they got me to get interested in The Gunns. Twice even. I think 2024 will be an important year to see if they can get serious about the bigger titles (Tag Team over Trios) or if we've seen all the tricks they got."

[5.0] "Up until they lost the tag titles I was a pretty big fan of The Acclaimed. Yeah Caster's raps could sometimes get pretty cringy but their matches were always pretty good and I loved their feud with the Guns and the addition of Gunn as a manager. After losing the belts however, I've really cooled off on the duo and can't bring myself to really care about any of their recent trios matches."

[5.0] "Wonderful, entertaining tag team. Many factors came together to propel them to the top (Daddy Ass, the catchphrases) and they have thrived in the spotlight. Bowens has superstar potential, Castor might always be better in a faction. Their Tag Title reign still needs a top tier rivalry to peak, as the companies top teams are either on hiatus or involved in other programs. I am curious to see if they can continue to thrive after the appeal of their rapping/scissoring gimmick wears out. EDIT - christ has this shtick ran stale. Forget about these guys even having a good match, much less an actual banger. As trios Champs they've been redundant, phoned in gimmicks for awhile now."

[8.0] "Imma be completely honest and say that I used to be a huge fan of The Acclaimed. I just loved them so much. Until they lost the Tag Team titles to The Gunns. I think that's what truly halted not only their momentum but their popularity as well. I still like them but not as much as I used to. And the only reason I truly like them is because of Max Caster messing with MJF. Other than that they're kinda mid and should've lost the trios titles to Daniel Garcia, Angelo Parker, and Matt Menard. Plus I feel like Billy Gunn is holding them back a little bit. No disrespect to Billy though."

[7.0] "I enjoy a lot about these guys, but feels like the gimmick is starting to wear down, and I'll be interested to see if they can pivot. Bowens is the star here. He can talk, he can wrestle, and he's always passionate. Max is solid, if unspectacular. Together they're a great team that caught lightning in a bottle due to a happy combination of themselves, Danhausen, and the Gunns. Up until they dropped the tag belts to the Gunns (in service of the returning FTR) they were red hot. But then the booking kinda tanked and they cooled off and piddled around the midcard squashing jobbers. Now they're the trios champs with Daddy Ass, but every match feels phoned in and there's not much to invest in emotionally."

[6.0] "Maybe one day when Max Caster realizes he needs to be more than his Cena level raps and does a stronger move set he will stop holding Anthony Bowens back and they can be a proper tag team in stead of being only as good as whatever opponents are carrying them that week."

[8.0] "Very fun tag team with one of the best gimmicks and personalities in wrestling. And the nice thing is both members of the team have improved massively in the ring as well. It's hard to believe that they've only been together for 3 years because they feel so fully formed already."

[10.0] "Absolutely brilliant tag team. Easily top 5 tag team in wrestling today. Great in ring, and way, way better on the mic. Literally unbelievably charismatic, and they have an excellent presence. EVERYONE LOVES THE ACCLAIMED!"

[5.0] "Still green but they had a good start to their run and got themselves immensely over, more with charisma and personality than in-ring work. Then they inexplicably had the rug pulled from under them and are now just floundering, both in booking and development."

[8.0] "This was the team I didn't wanted to see on AEW show and they are now the team that I'm the most happy to see. They made a lot of progress and it's so obvious that these two guys built themselves very well and they are not stopping their good things in 2023"

[9.0] "Absolutely bananas how much they've improved in such a short amount of time. From initially dismissing them as goober thuganomics lite to now looking forward to seeing them each week has been insane"

[8.0] "The Acclaimed have come a long way in AEW. I used to find them inexperienced and boring but they slowly won me over with how much better they got in the ring and on the mic (outside of Max Caster's raps, those were always great). Turning face hasn't diminished the quality of Max Caster's freestyle roasts, their charisma has currently made them one of the most over acts in AEW. Billy Gunn is somehow a better match managing them than he is with his own sons. Their run as tag team champions have breathed much life into the division without the Young Bucks and (the painfully underbooked) FTR. The only disappointing thing in their run is that they didn't win the titles on a PPV, their popularity likely being underestimated backstage. They should have known that EVERYONE LOVES THE ACCLAIMED!"

[8.0] "Everyone loves the Acclaimed! And with good reason. They're some of the most improved wrestlers in AEW history, and have really been one of the best tag teams in 2022. Talk about fiery, organic babyfaces, they embody all of that."

[9.0] "Really good on the mic and really good in the ring, these guys just project superstar material. One of the greatest gimmicks of the last 5 years."

[8.0] "the hottest tag team right now. massive pops whenever their music hits. Caster's rap gimmick is fresh and entertaining. one of the few wrestlers who're able to pull it off and not be cringe. Bowens' energy is unmatchable. EVERYONE LOVES THE ACCLAIMED."

[9.0] "Everyone loves the acclaimed! It? s been incredible watching these guys get over and even get an old Billy Gunn over again they just have IT. Always a reminder sometimes it's the oddest things that get you over in wrestling. Who knew "Scissor me daddy ass! " would be a winning line? You can never predict this fine sport"

[7.0] "Well, nearly a year later from when I first rated them and they've now become the hottest tag team in AEW and probably the US itself. They successfully made the move from arrogant and loud-mouthed but entertaining heels, to arrogant and loud-mouthed but incredibly loveable and endearing babyfaces, also managing to prove that they have genuinely very good sympathetic babyface-selling, taunts, and poses to whip the crowds into a supporting frenzy. Their in-ring work itself is still really only 'good' at best, but that character work and unique tag-team style they have managed to carry them extremely far. I still love the dynamic they have where Caster is very laidback while delivering his political/cultural jokes and insults in his entrance raps while not showing any stereotypically 'tough' rapper's attitude, while Bowens is FAR more intense when screaming his catchphrases on the mic so that the crowd joins in unison. I always liked them even when they were just mid-card heels, but I never thought they'd be so successful and over as pure babyfaces. I thought maybe they'd be good and over as "cool" heels, but nah, the crowds just love them now, and The Acclaimed loves them back, which makes it extremely fun to see them go back and forth as The Acclaimed play off the crowd's energy and the crowd plays off their energy. The only thing left for them to really work on is tightening up their in-ring work, but with their character work and crowd-connections already extremely strong, I could easily see them remaining very popular for a long time even without making any other improvements. And yes, "SCISSOR ME, DADDY ASS" is the greatest wrestling catchphrase of the 21st century."

[10.0] "A rating of 7 is ridiculous to me. They have so much fire, they're memorable, and they can put on great matches. Max Caster is hilarious with his rap gimmick and Anthony Bowens is a great hype man that can wrestle his ass off."

[6.0] "Their gimmick is pretty one dimensional but it works I suppose. I just can't see them as higher than a midcard tag team though, because neither of them are that good in the ring or outside of mic work, and even then, Caster is the only one to excel in that aspect. Without Caster, Bowens would probably have his contract expire. They're an entertaining enough act for AEW Dark and I do see potential with their partnership with the Gunns however."

[9.0] "Amazing pairing of stars, and easily one of the most entertaining things in AEW right now. Only reason they're not a 10 is because they haven't won any gold yet."

[9.0] "awesome duo, both look like they could be stars and play great off of eachother, love caster's raps on the way to the ring, bowens' intensity, and of course that finger thing they do."

[8.0] "I'm a fan of The Acclaimed. These two are charismatic and I look forward to Caster's raps. I think they should be booked better and get a tag title reign."

[5.0] "Rap gimmicks are boring but The Acclaimed is ok. They have done some fun stories but mostly on Dark. Recently they have been having good matches on Dynamite though."

[6.0] "These guys get a "meh" from me. The rap gimmick is dead end IMO. Ended up getting Caster suspended, and for what? The raps aren't usually that good (except the post-suspension one, which was hysterical). Bowens can legitimately go in the ring, and they're fine as midcard heels, but one hopes they're able to get better as time goes on."

[8.0] "The Acclaimed are still a very fresh team, but thus far, I am really liking what I am seeing. I believe I heard on an interview that they were paired without much though after some AEW Darks & they just seemed to click. Caster has been doing some solo work lately & I think the reason is because Bowens in injured. Though Caster seems to be more of a star between the two, I really hope they continue as a team. I think they work better as a duo, especially while they're so young in their AEW journey."

[8.0] "Their gimmick is very interesting and cool. I love to hear their diss raps towards all the other teams. They have lots of charisma and great chemistry between themselves. In-ring they are good. As heels they are perfect, in just 2 months they managed to piss people off."

[7.0] "These two have all the pieces to become absolutely amazing. They're going to have off days in the next couple of years but the potential is obvious. They're already one of my favourite teams to watch. Caster gets more attention but Bowens is just as entertaining to me."

[7.0] "Good team with a lot of potential. The diss rap gimmick gets them noticed, but they can also go in the ring and both hae a lot of charisma as well. They're still green and the quality of Caster's raps has varied a lot, but the potential is there."