Darius Martin recently returned to the ring in AEW and reformed the much lauded Top Flight tag team. Alongside his brother Dante Martin, the two combine to make one of the most exciting, high-flying tag teams in the world today, leading to comparisons with over top tag teams of the last 20 years, such as the Hardy Boyz and the Young Bucks.
AEW has pledged since the beginning of it’s existence in 2019 to focus on tag team wrestling, in a way that WWE never has. With teams like Young Bucks, Lucha Bros and FTR, they have amassed one of the greatest tag team divisions ever in wrestling history. But to compliment these incredible experienced team, AEW have discovered a number of up-and-coming teams to take AEW into the next 5, 10 or 15 years into the future.
Along with the likes of The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens) and Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr and Griff Garrison), Dante and Darius Martin have stood out as Top Flight, one of the most exciting young tag teams in wrestling today. They have everything in their locker to become one of the greats, with the brothers showing AEW exactly why they have all the AEW fans talking about Top Flight.
Top Flight in AEW
The duo of Darius Martin (age 22) and Dante Martin (age 21) as Top Flight are two of the youngest wrestlers currently wrestling regularly for a major American promotion. They first started appearing on AEW Dark in October 2020, and soon wowed fans enough to be promoted to having matches in AEW Dynamite.
They impressed so much that the month after their debut, they were thrown into a match against then-AEW Tag Team Champion The Young Bucks. The two pairs of brothers faced off on an episode of AEW Dynamite, and was for some the first taste of Top Flight in a high profile match.
While the two sets of brothers impressed on the night, it was the AEW Tag Team Champions who prevailed. However, Top Flight had been introduced to world, with the high-flying Dante Martin, the young of the two, impressing most with his incredible jumping ability and fearlessness when flying through the air.
The pair continued to wrestle together in AEW and rack up wins, until tragedy struck. Darius Martin suffered a brutal ACL injury which kept him out of the ring for almost a year and curtailed all of the pairs momentum. However, this gave Dante Martin the chance to impress as a single stars, competing in matches against stars like Adam Page, Matt Sydal and Malakia Black.
He really showcased his in-ring talents to the world in a six man tag team match against The Elite. Teaming with The Sydal Brothers (Matt and Mike), he faced off against former foes the Young Bucks and AEW Champion Kenny Omega on AEW Dynamite.
The match was seemingly a chance for Dante Martin to impress and establish himself as a star without his brother, and he did just that. Without the rest of Top Flight he flew higher than ever, and made fans really believe that he could pin Kenny Omega inside the ring multiple time. Eventually he succumbed to the Elite’s power and was beaten by Omega, but we caught a glimpse of a future star in AEW for the next 20 years time.
Over the coming months, Dante Martin would prove himself as a solid singles wrestler in AEW. However, his destiny was always to reunite with his brother, which finally came to a pass when Darius Martin returned at the Casino Battle Royal prior to AEW Revolution 2022.
Now that Top Flight have been reunited, the team can look forward to the future and to their goal of winning tag team wrestling gold. The due have been compared to the likes of the Young Bucks and the Hardy Boyz in recent years, as the pair of high flying brothers who have taken the the wrestling world by storm.
Whether or not the pair will continue to improve and become a foundation in the AEW Tag Team Division is unknown. Dante Martin has shown he can work as a single star, but clearly works better and will develop better with his brother in tow as Top Flight, one of the worlds most exciting young tag teams. Only time will tell, but I feel confident that Top Flight in AEW will become tag team champions at some point over the next few years.
Thank god the feud with Dante Martin and Team Tazz is over.
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