Blake Christian

[6.0] "I honestly don't know what to say about Blake Christian. On one hand, he's everything you hate about the modern indy wrestler - ton of crazy moves & high flying high spots with maybe not the best in ring psychology to back it up. Also for a while he was just in abysmal promo every time he was given a chance and he would just flop. His heel turn was definitely a bit of an advancement for him in terms of character, but then again I thought his run as GCW champion felt like he was trying way too hard to be as annoying and as hateable as possible and having really not much behind it. To be completely fair, he mainly stands out for just how good he is when it comes to these big moves in high flying spots and it's fun seeing him on TV doing this kind of stuff from time to time, and he definitely settled into a bit of a better heel over time with the whole "vanilla baby" stuff. I'm not the biggest fan of him as a wrestler but I don't want to dismiss him right away for everything, because there is something there even if it's not the full package. The swirl/lethal twist seems like a good place for him as of now but I don't know how much more can you utilize him for bigger things, especially as a top title contender. That's not your spite the guy but he's quite an interesting case to talk about."

[4.0] "I have to be honest, this guy is a total attention span killer. While the man has the athletic ability down, I just can't bring myself to care whenever he's on my screen because I know he's just gonna do high spots that everyone else is doing. He is everything that old heads think most of the best workers of today are: No charisma, can only do high spots, no psychology, no storytelling, can't cut a promo, wrestles like he's in a video game, etc. He's not that far off from being in the same category of other workers like Lio Rush and other wrestlers like them, men who are very surface leveled wrestlers who add no touch that's unique to them or even try to add their own spin to their offense. Every time he's on my TV screen, I just have the urge to multi task."

[6.0] "Blake is growing on me. I wasn't a fan at first but he's very much finding himself and is quite charismatic now. His inring is great but he just needs more time with his personality but make no mistake about it. I think he will become a top player in aew. Give him time"

[2.0] "Underwhelming talent whose main style derives strongly from the *shudder* Young Bucks. He's very poor on mic, his in-ring fare is devoid of meaningful storytelling elements, and he's less physically intimidating than quite nearly everyone. He needed Lethal Twist to elevate him and even still he's not putting out impressive stuff. He's physically talented but so is quite-nearly everyone in the game."

[3.0] "he is kinda of dog water now that he is with jay lethal and lee johnson. either way he never really impressed me from the beginning of his career considering on how long he has been in the ring and yeah, nothing more then being a vanilla baby. o"

[9.0] "All Heart felt dull. All Heat felt tryhard. Vanilla Baby feels like a truly despicable heel. Christian has always had exemplary in-ring skill, but his character work feels as though it's really found its groove. Any promoter would be smart to capitalise on Christian's capabilities."

[3.0] "He has channel-changing aura. He does a majority of the flippy-shit pretty well, but in the day & age, that can be a negative. It's overdone & waters down times when those moves can really mean something if done by someone who people care about."

[2.0] "Full-body cringe embarrassing as a babyface and somehow ten times more embarrassing as a heel. His days on AEW Dark were bad enough (oh yeah, I remember) and now, not content with shitting up GCW for several years, he's back to dilute the quality of AEW just that little bit more. Athletic but does nothing memorable with it like hundreds and hundreds of other indie guys--I think this is what Will Ospreay looks like to people who hate flips. The kind of guy who makes you think we were all a little too hard on Action Andretti."

[10.0] "Blake Christian has literally no charism but he more than makes up for it in the ring. He can do most of what Will Ospreay and Ricochet can do, lots of flippy acrobatic stunts and some nice power moves. He can also sell, maybe his matches lack psychology but that's not a problem that can't be fixed with better booking.He can put on a solid matches with anyone who can keep up with him or make the most out of what he does."

[4.0] "Blake Christian become widely knows at the pro wrestling community for being so fucking bad. The perfect example of something that is just athletic, try to do whatever Ospreay does but don't have the talent enough for it, so he was just a botching machine without purpose. If you hate indies wrestling or at elast don't enjoy that much, you for sure knows that guy. But...he is kinda becoming...okay? His heel work is good, he is not botching so much like before...maybe we can have faith on him."

[7.0] "I had no time for him on NXT, and less-than-no-time for him in his initial AEW run, but Vanilla Baby is such a good heel, and I feel like he's, not so much improved, but dialed in his move set to what he's good at. He's also adding much needed charisma to Lee Johnson"

[7.0] "Highly inconsistent yes but has one match of the year for me . so knocking him by around 15%, i.e. from a middling 5 to flat 7. and don't see him getting any better if he in there great woker he not carried he fights the level up to the person he working with. but when working some one lesser to his same level as is puts out middling work,"

"ha ha stupid vanilla boy. He's just a guy who looks good by copying movements without typical personality"

[8.0] "He's very talanted and has a lot of potential, needs some improvement for sure, i don't think he deserves the hate he gets"

[7.0] "Talented, if bland, but there's something there, I just think he needs the right match or angle or gimmick change to bring it out. Thankfully, he's young, so he has a lot of time to find that missing piece."

[8.0] "I had rated him a 7, but it seems that all the AEW casual fans are on here giving him low ratings now that he is appearing more on that show. So im gonna up my rating to counter the low ratings they are giving him. I enjoyed his heel character in GCW when he was the champ there and he was getting some great heat from the crowd. He can peform well in the ring but does still need some work"

[5.0] "Blake Christian's career has been a solid 8 so far and he managed to really wow independent wrestling fans. He's worked GCW, PWG, TNA, WWE, AEW, NJPW, ROH, REVOLVER, Progress, DPW. He's been all over the indies and even some big leagues. He held the GCW Title for 356 days and seemed to be on the top of his game. 2024-25 has been the weakest year of his career so far. When he was announced for the Best of the Super Juniors tournament people got excited and then he wrestled. He got really exposed and looked clueless for 1/2 the matches. He had a particularly horrible match with Clark Connors, had his GCW title vacated because of the BoSJ and had a terrible match with current champion Mance Warner. It seemed that BoSJ really hurt his momentum as an independent wrestler and he's now seen as a bit of a "meme" wrestler after his Vanilla Baby edit went viral."

[7.0] "Absolute professional. Can go with anyone. Always a good time. My highlight real is from any of his clashes with Masha Slamovich. In particular, he did this one bit, where he Red-Headed King Kong'ed her at the top of a ladder. Bent her in half, through the middle, at the very top. Back breaker and stupendously dangerous. What it told me? Masha trusts Blake with her life. Does he have the splashiest move set? Not really. Is he the strongest wrestler? H#ll no! Is he the hottest looking? Are you kidding? Like, maybe the opposite. The thing is, in spite of all THAT, he can still put on a more entertaining and personally engaging performance than talents with everything. That's the magic. // His inverted torpedo suicida into a ddt stunner kinda thing is magnificent. New signature: call it the Cherry on top? Damn, too bad he hits it outside the ring./Reading the negative reviews below actually makes me like him even more. You compared him to Will Ospreay negatively? Ospreay-like as a negative? You and I live in opposite universes."

[3.0] "Yeaaah...no. I can't even consider him an high flyer wrestler since he can barely land a moonsault. Everything he does looks weak, tries to have charisma, but can't. I have no problem with "flippy" wrestlers, but they have to, at least, look credible. Blake is everything but credible. Every match of his is an injury waiting for happening."

[2.0] "Blake Christian is the embodiment of everything I find wrong with modern "flippy" wrestling. He's basically the personification of bad faith descriptions levied at wrestlers who do lucharesu well. His moves, while athletic (altough not exceptionally so), feel completely soulless, executed with no weight, no impact, and no logic. He's the definition of style over substance, going through the motions without any real emotion. There's nothing unique about him. He's a bland, cookie-cutter wrestler who lacks personality, intensity, or anything that makes great wrestling compelling. Every match feels the same. Just a string of pointless dives and transitions with no sense of struggle. He's the perfect example of why "flippy" wrestling gets mocked, a wrestler who does moves for the sake of moves. He has tried to show some more personality with his heel work, but I honestly don't think it's good. It feels once again very generic and unmoving. Who knows, maybe he will be a good wrestler 5 years from now, but I just have 0 desire to see him do anything currently."

[7.0] "Don't get the hate on him. People say he's a "stain" on wrestling, but I quite like him. Is he needing improvement? Yes. But does he deserve all the hate? Nah. I believe his wrestling is half decent, but he needs some improvement. Just my thoughts. Overhated wrestler who needs improvement."

[7.0] "Honestly, I have been impressed by Christian especially as a heel. He is young and has room for improvement, but he has some impressive offense. He is very much the modern indy wrestling style of big moves and less selling and psychology but hoping he can grow into that better."

[0.0] "Loser. he's a stain on professional wrestling, he's everything wrong with wrestling today. He's Ospreay if he was actually bad, I could sell poos that I take after eating bean stew better than he sells wrestling moves. Both as a babyface and a heel. More like "All Fart" Blake Christian.. He should genuinely retire I get so so mad when I see him wrestle I can't bear it. I really want him to stop. He's just infuriating. God I hate him so much. Please retire. I would rather see Vince return to the fed than see another Blake Christian performance ever again. Tony Khan. I know you are on this site. Please stop booking him, you are scaring me away from your dwiddling product. Your booking has been getting worse by the year and this cannot stand any longer after watching final battle 2024"

[2.0] "I am honest to god all about the "flippy shit" but the stuff this guy does crosses the line of acceptable fourteen times over. That move he does where he dives to the outside and then just elbows them to the ground? Pure nonsense. This is what Ospreay haters think Ospreay is. Infuriating to watch wrestle because of how obvious it is that he's just trying to farm clips in every match. No matter the quality of his opponent you cannot drag better than roughly 3.5 stars out of him because he has to do his dreadful shit in every match."

[7.0] "his heel work has grown on me alot. him in roh has been pretty solid too. I honestly think hes more comfortable playing/wrestling like the heel/villian in a match as shown by him wrestling in the best of the super juniors where he seemed off in some of the matches I watched. I dont think thats a bad thing cause people have been life long villains in the career and he has a great move set. it'll click for him. hes pretty great in gcw which seems like his home promotion for now."

[3.0] "I'm not a huge fan of Blake Christian, I think he can work a decent match so and so, but overall his craft is very poor, I don't like the way he execute his moves, don't like the choices and the pace of his matches, and of course he seems to not put any effort into working a match with a captivating and logical psychology. Of course he has room for improvement, everyone does, but the way things are, I rate Blake really low as a wrestler, he doesn't fit my style at all."

[6.0] "As a Blake Christian hater, yep he is in fact the embodiment of everything wrong with indie wrestling, a classic example of Ospreay wannabe that has little psychology with lazy offenses and poor pacing and no existing selling. HOWEVER, the hate is so enormous nowadays, it's kinda unjustified. He has redeeming qualities, occasionally he can work a match very seriously and deliver some enjoyment to the fans. He is capable of putting thoughts in his work. Sure he isn't world champion material but I wouldn't hate him with such passion that others have. A good BOSJ run that was largely overshadowed with low scores just because he's Blake. I will lol when he screw up his dive or does the most indierific sequence to nothing, but i still appreciate he going at it."

[3.0] "This guy is painful to watch. For every cool move he does, he executes another 3 horribly. This guy is not good at all. He is the epitome of what oldheads who cry about the death of in ring psychology and the business think Ospreay is. Genuinely an awful, awful watch. Maybe he'll get better with time but I highly doubt it. Would love to be proven wrong though."

[4.0] "Blake Christian is actually good at high speed wrestling, so why he's doing a cheating heel character when he has no charisma is beyond me. With that said, I think GCW creative need to take a lot of the blame, too, for this awful title run he's been on."

[3.0] "While he is athletic to an impressive degree at times, his glaring lack of psychology and inability to grasp the basics of wrestling make his matches somewhat of a slog to get through, which is absolutely not what one should be saying about someone whose in-ring style is built upon high spots and agility."

[2.0] "Christian is not the worst thing to happen to wrestling, he is not worthy of a 0 or a 1 rating realistically, he just also is not very good. He can competently execute a move 99% of the time from what I have seen recently, he just cannot string together a match, or even a couple of moves, it is a really bizarre phenomenon. The guy is definitely an outcome of the style guys like Ospreay have popularised, relying on cringey feeling self-indulgent spots designed for an audience to chant This is awesome, which takes away what I personally enjoy in wrestling, and his recent heel work is just painful to sit through, but yeah he is not the worst I have seen and he is young enough to have time to develop. Having said all of that, I think for now he comfortably fits as a 2/10 rating. He is not hurting people and seems like a nice enough sort in real life, but I never really want to see another match of his in his current state as a worker."

[3.0] "If wrestling was like riding a bike, then maybe everyone could do it... except Blake Christian. Christian actively chooses to make himself a worse wrestler from his misunderstanding of wrestling psychology, a preference of Ospreayism with a focus on fake looking moves, poor strikes, and a proneness to 'epics'. It's not even fair to call him Ospreay-lite, Christian is something far, far worse. As each year rolls on, Blake Christian continues to regress as a wrestler. It feels really easy to point and laugh at him for him toiling away, putting on stinker after stinker in GCdub, but it's kind of sad. People actually thought he had legitimate upside."

[3.0] "He's fine. Nothing interesting or unique about him but he's palatable. His style of in ring work is a dime a dozen these days and as for character work there really isn't any outside of playing into the same underdog match structure over and over. If it were pre 2010 the novelty of his style could've carried him to a higher rating but alas it's the year of our lord 2022 and there are atleast 5 Blake Christians in training at your nearest wrestling school. (edit 4/23/2024) he has now been running a heel character as GCW champ for going on an eternity now and it's gotten so much worse. Blake Christian has gone from unremarkable to downright ass. As compelling as a steel toe boot with all the charisma of one as well."

[2.0] "You know all those old weirdos online who complain about modern wrestlers doing the most illogical nonsense with no thought or psychology or selling at all? Blake Christian is that, but unironically rather than just bad faith dog whistling. The fact that, at the time of this writing, he has 38 defences and counting of a world championship is a genuine embarrassment."

[1.0] "I have said this to friends. The way I view Blake Christian is thisHe is the wrestler that people think the young bucks and Will Ospreay are. Theres no psychology in his work. He does moves that make zero to no sense because all they are really is flips with no real point in happening, he does those flips welll but thats it really, He did a heat spot in Germany where he went for a dive, didnt actually do it to get heat, he got no reaction and then did the dive anyways. He has no connection with the crowd and I would rather have anyone else as GCW champion."

[1.0] "Blake Christian is the worst aspects of "gif wrestling" rolled up into one. He has no character, no psychology, and very poor selling. Granted, he does moves well, but if there's no psychology in the moves it's pointless. The worst issue is that there are glimpses of a good wrestler in Blake, but he just refuses to improve. His style hasn't evolved in the seven years he's been wrestling, and he's very stagnant. I don't know why GCW are keeping the belt on this guy."

[4.0] "Not really much to comment on him. A good high flyer but sadly lacks charisma, believability and in-ring work beyond high flying. I have never heard a promo of his, so I can't comment on that regard. He's still very young though, so maybe he'll improve. EDIT: His high-flying makes it hard to suspend any disbelieve. Can't give him more than that currently"

[8.0] "Very good high flyer. His finishes are very anticlimactic but he always puts on a great entertaining performance"

[4.0] "He's everything I hate about the modern independent wrestler. He can clearly do cool moves but if you have absolutely no basic grasp on psychology, the moves fall completely flat. He's young so there's ample time for him to get better but as it stands now, he's just another spot monkey in a business full of them."

[0.0] "X-Pac Heat needs to be renamed to Blake Christian heat. This guy just comes across as a total loser and sucks at every aspect of wresting. It's at the point to where if there's a possibility he'll be on a show I may watch, I want to instantly demand reparations."

[6.0] "Once upon a time, this man is someone I had high hopes for. And instead of living up to those, he kinda slid into being just another Ospreay clone much like fellow GCW roster member Nick Wayne. His in ring warrants a 7 but his recent world title win in GCW has soured me. I dont know what Brett sees in Blake that means he should twist how the brass ring works so it becomes a money in the bank type deal and have him cash in RIGHT AFTER A FUCKING CAGE OF SURVIVAL WORLD TITLE MATCH. Which in of itself ruins the entirety of TOS even happening since Rina didnt even really matter because she was overshadowes by this absolute goon winning the world title. 6, sorry Blake"

[6.0] "I haven't seen much of him on the mic ever, but he is very athletic and good in the ring. Another Ospreay copy, tbh."

[9.0] "Blake Christian is hands down, far and away, a top 5 American independent wrestling talent, and please do not let the recent shift on the internet fool you, this kid, specifically ring wise, is pure money. When it comes to the Ospreayification (no hate to Will) of independent wrestling no one does it better than All Heart. He puts on at minimum a solid matches everywhere he goes with no shortage of incredible matches. To mention him once more, look to his match with Will Ospreay for example. Albeit, the divide on how he works heel in GCW and face everywhere else is a bit odd (though it may be a bit in and of itself) that does not change his in ring ability and the man I have already mentioned twice would extend that same virtue, as would, and have, many other top level performers Blake has shared a ring with. Obviously, with his age, and other aspects of his game there is work that needs to be done, promos specifically (and should this not get rectified I would hope his in ring ability speaks for itself ala Ricochet), but if you were to get this kid under the wing of say Will, Omega, Danielson, ect. for a year or two the world would be Christian's for the taking. I truly believe he has the potential and ability to turn into one of the greatest active in ring workers should he keep getting better and keep from getting hurt."

[3.0] "I can't sum up Blake Christian any better than the person below me has, they've hit the nail right on the head. Turning heel in GCW has obviously been beneficial for him but it doesn't make me enjoy his matches any more, doesn't help that he's only doing the heel gimmick in GCW and everywhere else he's the same white-meat-babyface he's always been."

[4.0] "If you asked somebody who refuses to watch indies on principle what they think an indie wrestler looks, talks, and works like, they will describe Blake Christian with >90% accuracy."

[3.0] "Generic Indie Flippy Head No. 43213. Short, skinny, no acting skills, very little psychology, a complete lack of gimmick and to top it all of, he is so terrible around a mic I've seen mute people using one better."

[8.0] "His heel run in GCW has been doing him a world of good. An absurdly talented high flyer, his one issue always tended to be a lack of charisma, but now he seems much more comfortable as a cocky prick heel and you can see it. Definitely one to keep an eye on in 2023"

[6.0] "A very solid high-flyer who sadly only ever works the generic indy bombfest style with minimal selling, overly choreographed exchanges and set-ups, and impact which often looks weak or without proper connection. He's basically a knock-off Will Ospreay, except he doesn't have nearly the level of the agile finesse, pure brutality, or entertaining character work. He's still young, so hopefully he'll eventually be able to expand the range of his skills and have matches that aren't just the same series of spots one after the other. I wouldn't go as far as to give him an outright negative rating like others, since he clearly has an impressive minimum level of talent which keeps most of his matches somewhat entertaining at worst, even if they usually don't go past being simply 'good'. He definitely needs to polish up a lot of his skills and find a more distinct character/style though, if he truly wished to stand out amongst the legions of other generic high-flyers we have in wrestling today."

[4.0] "Dude might be a good wrestler for spotfests, but he doesn't do anything for me. He's simply uninteresting and often bores me to sleep."

[5.0] "Spot-worker who regularly fails to sell anything sustained in the ring and has virtually nothing to be interested in outside of "I can do flips a lot" which is nice and all but we've kinda got over that a good few years ago and by comparison he's nowhere near some of the crazier spot monkeys like Ninja Mack or Fenix, who are legitimately impressive in that regard. He's competent enough to be taken to good showings against stronger talent that can guide him into it but otherwise he struggles to stand out a whole lot and can really get boring if he's going for longer matches as his style tends to get old and tiresome. He's certainly physically talented but you need more than that to stand out particularly well these days."