Tension has been brewing with Jurassic Express in recent months. Christian Cage has put AEW’s Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy in increasingly difficult matches, seemingly doing his best to cause tension in the group and get the tag team titles off the duo.
This is clearly ready for a Jungle Boy singles run, but what for AEW Original Luchasaurus? Could we see Luchasaurus released for AEW once the tag team run his up? Will he succeed or flounder in a singles run amongst a sea of talent including Lance Archer, Ricky Starks and Darby Allin?
In this article we will review all of that and give our verdict on what will become of the 65 million year old AEW Tag Team Champion once his tag team with Jungle Boy fizzles out and the pair go their separate ways.
Luchasaurus in AEW
Since the first episode of AEW Dynamite, one constant in the AEW Tag Team Division has been Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy. Known together as Jurassic Express (and being joined by Marko Stunt and Christian Cage during their time in the company), the duo have been one of the most constant presences in the division and were the first home-grown stars to win tag team gold together.
As the current AEW Tag Team Champions, the pairs relationship is fantastic. The duo have never been on better terms and they work so effortlessly in tandem inside the ring. For a boy of the Jungle and a wrestling dinosaur, you couldn’t have asked for a better partnership.
Luchasaurus is an AEW original, alongside Jungle Boy. He appeared in the first match in AEW history, the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing 2019. He impressed greatly, with fans already aware of him from his time in Lucha Underground. He finished in the final four, alongside Jimmy Havoc, MJF and eventual winner Adam Page and looked like he could be a big star in AEW.
Jungle Boy also debuted in that match, albeit to a much more subdued reaction. He was much lesser known, with fans not even aware that he was the son of late-Hollywood star Luke Perry. However he showed glimpses of his talent in the match, although it would not be until later that the young starlet would find his true calling in the AEW Tag Team Division.
The pair were slotted together as a tag team, but the caveman-style gimmick of Jungle Boy complimenting the AEW Luchasaurus gimmick of “Look this guy is actually a 65 million year old dinosaur”. It worked shockingly well, with the big man-little man gimmick that is as old and as true as time itself coming up trumps once again.
They were a popular tag team early on, albeit one that suffered defeats regularly. At first Luchasaurus was the star, being the hot tag for Jungle Boy and wrecking the field with his incredible flips and kicks for somebody his size.
However, the dynamic soon shifted. Jungle Boy became the ultimate underdog while Luchasaurus became “the other guy in the tag team”. Jungle Boy was clearly favoured in AEW, pushed as one of the “four pillars” and given big singles match that Luchasaurus could only dream of.
Jungle Boy had big matches against the likes of Chris Jericho, MJF and Cody Rhodes while his partner was usually relegated as the hot tag in their matches. Jungle Boy gained the sympathy of the crowd as he was beaten down relentlessly, until his hot tag released Luchasaurus to unload on the heels even though the crowd were largely there to see Jungle Boy whizz around the ring.
While the duo did eventually defeat the Lucha Bros (no relation to the dinosaur) for the AEW Tag Team Titles in 2021, Jungle Boy was seen as even more of the star of the group. They also added Christian Cage as part of a trio and teased a match for months between Cage and Boy.
Luchasaurus seemed left out. The focus was all on Jungle Boy and his inevitable battle with Cage and accompanying singles run. Often lauded as a future AEW Champion, Jack Perry seemed to have the world behind him while Luchasaurus was a forgotten dinosaur in AEW.
They are likely to split up soon and with Jungle Boy going out on his own, the future is unclear for the dinosaur. Some think he may go on his own singles run, maybe turn heel like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, reading for a face turn 30 years later.
However, others think that Luchasaurus will be released by AEW once his star fizzles out and Jungle Boy is established by AEW.
Luchasaurus AEW release
Luchasaurus’ AEW release seems inevitable. Some of you may be shocked at that but I believe it to be true. He has had an incredible three-year run in the company up to this point, winning a championship and being featured regularly on TV.
But he was only there for one reason – to get Jungle Boy over. Luchasaurus in AEW was brought in to guide the young Perry into manhood, to help bring him from a rookie into an AEW star. And he did that. The pair have been an impressive tag team but every team has to end. Even Rybaxel ended.
Jungle Boy is poised to explode into stardom any time soon. He has been heavily pushed in AEW since day one and was earmarked as one of the four pillars of AEW, four of the top young prospects in AEW. Luchasaurus has had no such push, and why should he?
He is a 37 year old (breaking the fourth wall here) who has never achieved any success outside of AEW, relative to his AEW co-stars. His style his heavily dependent on his speed and agility, which is very unusual for a big man. While it is very impressive and great to watch, you can see with his kicks that he is already slowing down.
He could progress to being a slow, plodding big man, who honestly who wants to see that? I think AEW should keep the memories alone and release Luchasaurus once his deal is up and he’s had a good blow-off singles feud with Jungle Boy.
A heel turn, however, could be good for him. He wouldn’t need to do the flashy moves anymore and he could wrestle like Lance Archer, a big man who can hit big and flashy moves out of nowhere like Luchasaurus. Archer has nearly 10 years on him also, so he would be able to fill the void left by him in a few years when he retires.
Luchasarus will be released eventually. That is inevitable. It just seems like once he splits up with Jungle Boy it will be much sooner rather than later.