WWE can start to feel stale, but for fans who drift away from its glossy, scripted drama, a whole universe of alternatives awaits – from Japan’s NJPW to America’s AEW.
Egyptian designer Mohamed Fahmy, 28, knows that journey well. Once hooked on WWE, he found himself searching for something deeper. Once the broader world of professional wrestling began embracing his artistic skills, his promotional work became responsible for attracting legions of fans along with him.
While his designs are now inextricably tied to some of the biggest wrestling events of the last decade, few might know that many of them were created thousands of miles away in Alexandria, Egypt.
“I started in 2013, just posting fan-made designs on internet forums,” he tells The National. “But in that same year I got my first paid job, and from then on it became my profession.”
Fahmy’s background is in civil engineering, but his passion was always in art and wrestling. From a young age he was fascinated by the characters he saw on television. Like many Egyptians, his first exposure was through a weekly clip show hosted by the late former wrestler Mamdouh Farag. He remembers being drawn to the flamboyance of the Golden Era stars. “I loved Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior,” he says.
That interest quickly moved beyond television. By 2006 he was exploring independent promotions online and learning about Japan’s NJPW promotion. WWE remained his main focus until 2016, but he admits the product lost him. “For me, wrestling has to be storytelling that respects the audience’s intelligence,” he says. “If it feels shallow or forced, I lose interest.”
What never waned was his dedication to design. His first big break came when British promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling hired him in 2016. A year later he became lead graphic designer for Ring of Honor in the United States.
“That was the first company I signed a proper contract for,” he says. “Age was never an issue. They only cared that the work was high quality, delivered on time and printed well.”
Those contracts helped grow his reputation among wrestlers and promoters. By 2019 the team behind AEW came calling. The company was founded that year by businessman Tony Khan alongside stars such as Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks, and quickly positioned itself as the first genuine rival to WWE in two decades. Whereas WWE is a publicly traded entertainment giant built around spectacle and scripted drama, AEW marketed itself as a wrestling-first promotion that put athleticism and creative freedom at its core.
At the beginning, AEW lacked an established design department. “They only had a few promotional photos,” says Fahmy. “So, when I presented a complete poster, it was a big deal. At first it was very simple. They would say, ‘We have a show called All Out in Chicago. Go ahead.’ Later, when the production team was formed, it became more collaborative, with meetings and brainstorming.”
Fahmy’s posters are more than promotional tools – they tell stories in their own right. For the upcoming Forbidden Door event happening in London on Sunday, he created a poster for the anticipated match between British wrestler Zack Sabre Jr and Nigel McGuinness.
It features both technical wrestlers drawn in the style of 1970s punk and was an instant hit with fans online. Many praised the small details. “I was really worried that the audience wouldn’t like it at first because it was a new style,” Fahmy says. “But many messaged me saying that it was a great poster.”
Another career highlight came in 2021, when AEW staged All Out in Chicago. The event featured the long-awaited in-ring return of CM Punk, one of wrestling’s most celebrated figures. “That was a complete identity design that I proposed and developed from beginning to end,” he says.
Sometimes the work requires creative solutions. For All In Texas in July, which featured Japanese star Kazuchika Okada against Kenny Omega, Fahmy had to find a way around limited photography. “Designing for Kenny Omega is always difficult because he doesn’t like photo shoots,” he says.
“So, I went back to my fan-art instincts and used symbolism. Okada is the Rainmaker, so I used a Japanese water dragon. Omega was returning from injury, so I made him a phoenix rising from the ashes. I placed the two creatures against each other, dragon versus phoenix, warm colours versus cold. It created contrast.”
Despite being responsible for visuals seen by millions, Fahmy has never attended a live wrestling show. “That’s why I’m happy major shows are now happening in Saudi Arabia, even if they are WWE shows,” he says. “It’s close to Egypt and I hope I can go soon.” He also hopes AEW can come to the Middle East.
His work continues to be produced remotely from Alexandria, in collaboration with AEW’s production department in Nashville. He credits his journey to persistence and his willingness to take opportunities, even when unpaid. “The first company I worked for was a non-profit,” he says. “There was no money, but I learnt most of what I know there.”
Fahmy says his dream poster to create would be for a match that is unlikely to happen, at least for now. “If I could choose, I’d love to design the official key art for a show featuring AJ Styles against Will Ospreay, if that match ever happens. That would be a dream.”
Styles is contracted to WWE, while Ospreay wrestles with AEW.
AEW is available through Starzplay across the Middle East
