#feud: moxley vs vance

[allelitewrestlings]

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 4/1/2023

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Kenny Omega (IWGP United States champion)

Adam Page

Adam Cole

Jack Perry

Ricky Starks

Wardlow

HOOK (FTW champion)

Konosuke Takeshita

Matt Hardy

Action Andretti

Men's singles division - heels

MJF (AEW men's world champion)

Chris Jericho

Bryan Danielson

Sammy Guevara

Powerhouse Hobbs (AEW TNT champion)

Samoa Joe (ROH television champion)

Daniel Garcia

Juice Robinson*

Jeff Jarrett

Jake Hager

Unranked: AR Fox, Ari Daivari, Darius Martin, Jack Cartwheel*, Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe, Parker Boudreaux, Preston Vance, Serpentico, Starboy Charlie*, Swerve Strickland

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

The next world title program looks to be a four-way with MJF, Perry, Guevara, and Darby Allin. Whether that headlines the May 28 pay-per-view remains to be seen. I could picture the four-way being on one of the "special" editions of Dynamite, like Mother's Day Mayhem or Earth Day Slam or whatever they might call it. It feels like Adam Cole is being set up for a big babyface push, so maybe MJF vs. Cole will headline 5/28. But for now it's too soon to be sure.

To make room for all these new faces in the world title picture, AEW has moved a lot of the established top guys into multi-man feuds. Omega and Page are separately dealing with the entire Blackpool Combat Club (Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta), while the Jericho Appreciation Society is regrouping against the House of Black. Wardlow is probably going to return to chase Hobbs, but to get there he'll likely have to cut through the new QTV group. Hook seems to be busy beating everybody in the Firm one-by-one. Starks's feud with Robinson may or may not lead to fighting the entire Bullet Club.

AEW has not yet announced a "Blood and Guts" double cage match for 2023, but this is usually around the time of year they'd start setting that up. At this point, they're spoiled for choice as to which multi-man feud to put in the cage, not to mention the whole Outcasts storyline in the women's division. I suppose some of these feuds could be blown off with Stadium Stampede, or Anarchy in the Arena, or Clobbering in Catering, or whatever they call it.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Lucha Bros. - Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix (ROH tag team champions)

Darby Allin & Sting

Keith Lee & Dustin Rhodes

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

Men's tag team division - heels

The Gunns - Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn (AEW tag team champions)

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

The Kingdom - Matt Taven* & Mike Bennett*

Varsity Athletes - Josh Woods & Tony Nese

Unranked: Harv Shira* & Gurv Shira*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Following the Lucha Bros. ROH tag title victory, I'm still uncertain how much separation we're going to see between the AEW and ROH rosters. It feels like several AEW acts (such as the Kingdom) have been earmarked to primarily work ROH-branded shows, but very few of them have actually stopped being featured on AEW. It may take a few more months to get the brands separated...if that's even what Tony Khan wants to accomplish, that is.

The top two-on-two programs right now look to be the Acclaimed vs. Menard/Parker and the Gunns vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler). My hunch is that FTR will win the tag titles and move on to a big match with the Acclaimed. If FTR doesn't win their April 5 title match, they've vowed to leave AEW. Would that send them to ROH full-time, or would they just leave altogether? Either way I have no idea what shape this division will take.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

Orange Cassidy (AEW international champion) & Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Dalton Castle* & Brent Tate* & Brandon Tate*

Men's trios division - heels

John Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli (ROH men's world champion) & Wheeler Yuta

Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews (AEW trios champions)

Kip Sabian & The Butcher & The Blade

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

The trios division is in flux right now. Everyone in the Dark Order has been laid out by Moxley's group, so it's not clear which of them will be available for a trios match (with or without Adam Page). With the Young Bucks on the shelf, Kenny Omega is torn between teaming with other guys or going it solo. The Jericho Appreciation Society had a trio ready to go, but Sammy Guevara's pursuit of singles gold probably changes the formula. I'm guessing Jericho & Hager & Garcia challenge the House of Black, but that's not certain yet.

I'm a bit surprised we never see Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, and Satnam Singh make a run as a trio, considering they're all inseparable anyway. But then, Singh is rarely put in the ring, so my guess is they don't think he's anywhere close to ready.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Jamie Hayter (AEW women's world champion)

Taya Valkyrie

Willow Nightingale

Skye Blue*

Emi Sakura

Women's singles division - heels

Jade Cargill (AEW TBS champion)

Toni Storm

Saraya

Ruby Soho

Marina Shafir*

Leila Grey*

Unranked: Ava Lawless*, Nicole Matthews*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Aside from Valkyrie chasing Cargill, the women's division now revolves around the Outcasts (Storm, Saraya, and Soho) vs. Hayter, Britt Baker, Nightingale, Blue, and Riho. Assuming Baker's back issues don't keep her sidelined, the heels need a couple more women to back them up. I'd go with Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose, since they're already a duo, and Nyla would end the narrative of "ex-WWE heels vs. AEW originals," which isn't helping anything.

No TV/PPV matches in 30 days, but had a Dark/Elevation match: Aaron Solo, Athena (ROH women's world champion) Big Bill, Boulder*, Brady Booker*, Bronson*, Brandon Cutler, Brian Cage (ROH trios champion), Charlette Renegade*, Christopher Daniels, Ethan Page, Isiah Kassidy, Julia Hart, Lance Archer, Lee Johnson, Lee Moriarty, Luther, Nick Comoroto, Nyla Rose, Peter Avalon, QT Marshall, Riho, Robyn Renegade*, Sonny Kiss, Zack Clayton*

No televised AEW matches in 30 days: Anna Jay, Anthony Ogogo, Bandido, Brian Pillman Jr., Britt Baker, Brock Anderson, Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, Fuego Del Sol, Leva Bates, Luchasarus, Madison Rayne, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Miro, Ortiz, PAC, Penelope Ford, Red Velvet, Rush, Satnam Singh, Scorpio Sky, Serena Deeb, Shawn Dean, Shawn Spears, The Bunny, Trench, Yuka Sakazaki

Part-time/Semi-retired: Billy Gunn, El Hijo Del Vikingo* (AAA mega champion), Jeff Cobb*, Kyle Fletcher*, Mark Davis*, Mark Henry, Mark Sterling, Paul Wight, Paige Vanzant, Rebel, Stokely Hathaway, Sonjay Dutt

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Inactive

Abadon (shoulder - collarbone fracture)

Andrade El Idolo (left shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Christian Cage (storyline - "buried alive")

CM Punk (left arm - triceps tear)

Colt Cabana (unspecified injury)

Danhausen (right shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Dante Martin (left leg - unspecified injury)

Eddie Kingston (storyline - "quit" AEW, jumped to ROH)

Griff Garrison (unspecified injury)

Hikaru Shida (finger - unspecified injury)

Jeff Hardy (suspension - DUI)

Kris Statlander (left knee - ACL tear, lateral meniscus tear)

Kyle O'Reilly (neck - herniated disc)

Leyla Hirsch (knee - ACL tear)

Marq Quen (unspecified injury)

Matt Jackson (arm - partial biceps tear)

Nick Jackson (storyline - "separated shoulder")

Santana (left knee - unspecified injury)

Tay Melo (back - protrusion)

Thunder Rosa (back - unspecified injury)

[allelitewrestlings]

[allelitewrestlings]

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 12/17/2022

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley

Bryan Danielson

Claudio Castagnoli (ROH men's world champion)

Orange Cassidy (AEW all-Atlantic champion)

Wardlow

Ricky Starks

Jack Perry

Keith Lee

Wheeler YUTA (ROH pure champion)

HOOK (FTW champion)

Men's singles division - heels

MJF (AEW men's world champion)

Chris Jericho

Samoa Joe (AEW TNT champion, ROH television champion)

Sammy Guevara (AAA mixed tag team champion)

Daniel Garcia

Ethan Page

Swerve Strickland

Luchasaurus

Powerhouse Hobbs

Lance Archer

Unranked: Aaron Solo, Action Andretti*, Anthony Henry*, Ari Daivari, Clayton Bloodstone*, Cole Karter, Danhausen, Dralistico*, Dustin Rhodes, Exodus Prime*, Izzy James*, Jake Hager, Jeff Cobb*, JD Griffey*, Juice Robinson*, Jun Akiyama*, Kip Sabian, Konosuke Takeshita, Lee Johnson, Mascara Dorada*, Nick Comoroto, Preston Vance, QT Marshall, Rocky Romero*, Rush, Shane Taylor*, Shawn Dean, Trent Seven*, Tomohiro Ishii*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

The top programs right now look to be Moxley vs. Adam Page, MJF vs. Danielson, Wardlow vs. Joe, and Lee vs. Strickland. I don't know if Jericho will keep targetting Andretti after that shocking upset, but obviously Jericho will get something big to do. Hobbs seems to be getting a push but doesn't have a clear opponent for a feud yet. Cassidy is clearly headed for a title match with Sabian, but I don't expect that story to take up much time.

The babyface side is noticeably stronger than the heel side. That works out, though, since MJF needs a steady supply of good guy opponents who already have credibility, so they won't look so bad when he beats them. After Danielson you can easily get months of booking out of MJF vs. Wardlow, MJF vs. Perry, MJF vs. Castagnoli, MJF vs. Keith Lee, MJF vs. Hook, etc., etc. I assume a rematch with Moxley will happen but it might take a while to get around to it.

While MJF is on top, AEW would do well to figure out what they're doing with lesser heels like Ethan Page, Luchasaurus, Daniel Garcia, and Lance Archer. I'm not worried about Strickland, who will be moving on up now that he's a singles guy again, but the others have rarely felt like they have a clear direction.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens (AEW tag team champions)

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler (IWGP tag team champions, AAA tag team champions)

Darby Allin & Sting

The Briscoes - Jay Briscoe* & Mark Briscoe* (ROH tag team champions)

Eddie Kingston & Ortiz

Top Flight - Dante Martin & Darius Martin

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Blake Christian & AR Fox

Shinobi Shadow Squad - Cheeseburger* & Eli Isom*

Men's tag team division - heels

The Butcher & The Blade

Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal

The Kingdom - Matt Taven & Mike Bennett

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

Lee Moriarty & Big Bill

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

The big feuds here are the Acclaimed vs. Lethal's dumb faction, FTR vs. Austin and Colten Gunn, Moriarty/Bill vs. Jack Perry & Hook, and the Best Friends vs. Butcher and Blade. Silver and Reynolds have business with Rush and Preston Vance, but that may end up being a trios deal or something. Kingston and Ortiz have a score to settle with the House of Black but they probably need a third guy.

The heel side is awfully thin right now. It wasn't a big deal when FTR was mostly fighting other face teams, but they need to balance things out somehow. It would help to get the Gunns and the Varsity Athletes (Josh Woods & Tony Nese) back on TV.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

The Elite - Kenny Omega & Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson

Dalton Castle* & Brandon Tate* & Brent Tate*

Hardy Party - Matt Hardy & Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

Men's trios division - heels

Death Triangle - PAC & Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix (AEW trios champions)

The Embassy - Brian Cage & Toa Liona* & Bishop Kaun* (ROH trios champions)

The House of Black - Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

AEW managed to put together eight trios for the championship tournament this summer, and then by September virtually all eight teams were off the board. So it's good to see they've rebuilt the division somewhat. Personally I'd rather see 8-10 trios here, which should be doable without cannibalizing the singles and tag divisions.

The most notable absences here are QT Marshall's Factory, the Jericho Appreciation Society, and Ari Daivari's Trustbusters--all those groups could focus three of their guys on a trios run. I always assumed if AEW got a trios division going that the Dark Order would be a fixture in it; now that there's only three guys left in the group (Silver, Reynolds, and Evil Uno) it seems even more natural.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Saraya

Toni Storm

Hikaru Shida (Regina di WAVE champion)

Ruby Soho

Mercedes Martinez

Willow Nightingale

Skye Blue*

Kiera Hogan

Madison Rayne

Women's singles division - heels

Jade Cargill (AEW TBS champion)

Britt Baker

Jamie Hayter (AEW women's world champion)

Athena (ROH women's world champion)

Nyla Rose

Tay Melo (AAA mixed tag team champion)

Anna Jay

The Bunny

Red Velvet

Leila Grey

Unranked: Dani Mo*, Queen Aminata*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

AEW has always struggled to present the women's division well, but I have to give them credit for actually getting 21 women on TV in the past 30 days. The storylines feel a little fuzzy right now, but maybe that'll clear up in a few weeks when we get closer to the next pay-per-view.

I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football whenever I think this, but it seems like AEW is pairing the women off for a potential tag division. Of late we've seen Baker & Hayter, Cargill/Velvet/Grey, Anna & Tay, Bunny & Penelope Ford, Nyla & Marina Shafir, and a few makeshift babyface teams to oppose them. My dream scenario would be for this to build to Sasha Banks and Naomi coming in to finish what they started in WWE, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

No TV or PPV matches in 30 days: Angelico, Brandon Cutler, Emi Sakura, Evil Uno, Hagane Shinno*, Josh Woods, Leva Bates, Luther, Marina Shafir*, Peter Avalon, Satnam Singh, Serpentico, Sonny Kiss, Tony Nese, Zack Clayton*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

There are way too many wrestlers on Dark and Elevation for me to keep track of, so I'm only including the ones who wrestled in the last month and either a) won a match or b) are listed on the official roster. This rule is particularly tough on the Wingmen and the Trustbusters, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

No AEW/ROH matches in 30 days: Adam Page, Anthony Ogogo, AQA, Austin Gunn, Bandido, Brian Pillman Jr., Brock Anderson, Christopher Daniels, Colten Gunn, Frankie Kazarian, Fuego Del Sol, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Miro, Parker Boudreaux, Penelope Ford, Riho, Scorpio Sky, Serena Deeb, Shawn Spears, Sonjay Dutt, Yuka Sakazaki

I'm not sure what's going on with these names. Adam Page is obviously medically cleared or they wouldn't even fly him in to do interviews about how he's not medically cleared. Miro and Scorp are reportedly ready to go and just don't have anything planned for them. Bandido literally just got signed a month ago and hasn't been seen since. Pillman is probably in limbo until they decide what to do with him while Griff Garrison is sidelined. I keep thinking Daniels, Nakazawa, and Dutt have retired or something, but as soon as I assume that they'll be in a match next week.

As for the rest, for all I know any of them could have an injury that didn't make the news, and we'll never know until they show up again. Four years ago it was WWE that always had a dozen or more wrestlers on ice, and I never expected AEW to end up being as bad (if not worse) with that same issue.

Part-time/semi-retired: Billy Gunn, Mark Henry, Mark Sterling, Paige VanZant, Paul Wight, Rebel, Stokely Hathaway

Inactive

Abadon (shoulder - collarbone fracture)

Adam Cole (unspecified injury - possible concussion)

Andrade El Idolo (right arm - pectoralis tear)

Christian Cage (right arm - triceps tear)

CM Punk (left arm - triceps tear; negotiating release)

Colt Cabana (unspecified injury)

Griff Garrison (unspecified injury)

Jeff Hardy (suspension; awaiting DUI trial)

Kris Statlander (right knee - ACL/meniscus tear)

Kyle O'Reilly (neck - fusion surgery)

Leyla Hirsch (right knee - ACL tear)

Santana (left knee - unspecified injury)

Thunder Rosa (back - unspecified injury)

Even if the backstage fight hadn't happened, Punk would be out with his triceps injury until at least March or April. It's been reported that Punk and AEW are negotiating a buyout of his contract, which suggests one or both sides don't want him to return. I suppose there's a slim possibility they could mend fences for a shocking comeback, but if it happened it would naturally be top super-duper maxi-extreme ultra secret.

[allelitewrestlings]

[allelitewrestlings]

JON MOXLEY vs PRESTON VANCE AEW Dynamite | October 27, 2021

[allelitewrestlings]

"Looks like he’s your favorite, too!"

[allelitewrestlings]

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 5/16/2021

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Darby Allin

Cody Rhodes

Orange Cassidy

PAC

Hangman Page

Christian Cage

Lance Archer

Sammy Guevara

Dustin Rhodes

Jake Hager

Men's singles division - heels

Kenny Omega (AEW men's world champion, Impact world champion, AAA mega champion)

MJF

Miro (AEW TNT champion)

Brian Cage (FTW champion)

Matt Hardy

Shawn Spears

Anthony Ogogo

QT Marshall

Powerhouse Hobbs

Nick Comorotto

Unranked: Alex Reynolds, Christopher Daniels, Colt Cabana, Danny Limelight, Dante Martin, Frankie Kazarian, Lee Johnson, MT Nakazawa, Wardlow

It feels premature to rank Darby Allin so highly. But given that Chris Jericho's hurt, Kenny Omega's a heel, and Jon Moxley's chasing the tag title, I can't argue any other babyface is ahead of him. Cody's clout and presentation goes a long way, but that only goes so far when he's been barely been on TV and feuding with QT's band of trainees. AEW deserves a lot of credit for giving Allin the ball and letting him run with it. Even though he just lost the TNT title to Miro, his chase to get it back ought to be even hotter than his run as champion.

A lot of the key fueds right now involve factions--Cody's Nightmare Family vs. QT's The Factory, Jericho's Inner Circle vs. MJF's The Pinnacle, and the Hardy Family Office vs. the Dark Order, Orange's buddies vs. Pac's Death Triangle--not to mention Team Taz and Kenny Omega's group running around. As a New Japan fan I dig it, but it does make it kind of tough to decide where one faction's minions rank relative to another's.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley (IWGP United Stats champion) & Eddie Kingston

Santana & Ortiz

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Lucha Bros. - Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix

Jurassic Express - Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

Varsity Blondes - Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr.

The Gunn Club - Billy Gunn & Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn

Matt Sydal & Mike Sydal

Alan Angels & Preston Vance

Men's tag team division - heels

The Young Bucks - Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson (AEW tag team champions)

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler

Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Private Party & Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

The Butcher & The Blade

TH2 - Jack Evans & Angelico

Chaos Project - Luther & Serpentico

Cezar Bononi & Ryan Nemeth

Unranked: Sonny Kiss & Joey Janela

(Names not listed on the AEW website's roster are noted in italics.)

With Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian disbanding their team, the top title contenders on AEW's official rankings are Garrison and Pillman. However, the team that's actually getting a title shot at the May 30 pay-per-view is Moxley and Kingston, because they trashed the champs' dressing room. Just in case you were wondering why I bother doing this when AEW does it every week.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Hikaru Shida (AEW women's world champion)

Thunder Rosa

Tay Conti

Kris Statlander

Ryo Mizunami

Big Swole

Red Velvet

Leyla Hirsch

KiLynn King

Women's singles division - heels

Britt Baker

Nyla Rose

Jade Cargill

Abadon

Penelope Ford

Diamante

The Bunny

A year ago I was griping that AEW wasn't doing enough with the women's division. They're still not giving them enough time on the main show, but it definitely feels like Shida, Baker, and Statlander are more important to the product now than they were back then. I wanted them to bring in more women and give them a chance, and that paid off big time with Thunder Rosa. Swole, Conti, Abadon, and Velvet feel underutilized, but I'm confident that will change. Cargill is going to be great once they decide she's ready for more than simple squash matches. Granted, There are others on this list that seem to be just...there. But it's amazing how much less frustrating that is when more than two women on the roster are getting pushed.

No matches in over 30 days: Awesome Kong, Emi Sukara, Karl Anderson, Leva Bates, Doc Gallows, Mel, Peter Avalon, Riho, Shanna, Shawn Dean, Serena Deeb (NWA women's world champion), Yuka Sakazaki

Same old story with Riho, Shanna, Sukara, and Sakazaki (travel restrictions), and with Kong and Mel (no idea). Deeb is booked for the May 19 show, which is probably a relief for the NWA, since they can finally book some title matches again.

When the AEW/Impact storyline started, I expected a lot more Impact wrestlers to appear on AEW programming than just Gallows and Anderson. As it turns out, even Gallows and Anderson haven't wrestled much on AEW lately. I'm really starting to wonder what the point is for all of this.

Part-time/semi-retired: Dasha Gonzalez, Paul Wight, Rebel not Reba, Sting, Tully Blanchard

I feel weird having Tully here but hell, he's probably had more ring time in 2021 than everybody else in this list put together.

Inactive

Anna Jay (right shoulder - dislocation)

Brandon Cutler (orbital bone - unspecified injury)

Brandi Rhodes (pregnancy)

Chris Jericho (right elbow - dislocation)

Kip Sabian (right arm - storyline injury?)

John Silver (right shoulder - dislocation)

Ricky Starks (neck - fractured vertebrae)

Darius Martin (knee - unspecified ACL injury)

Miro "injured" Sabian's arm recently, and Sabian announced on Twitter that he's getting surgery. So is he just playing into the storyline on social media, or is the storyline designed to cover for an actual injury? Either way I don't expect him back in the ring for a while.

In contrast, Jericho's arm injury is legit but he's still appearing on TV and trying to get a match like it's no big deal. MJF challenged Jericho to a Stadium Stampede match two weeks from now, but Jericho reportedly needs 4-6 weeks to recover. So either the reports are overestimating how hurt he is, or Jericho's going to have to creatively avoid doing anything physical...or they'll have to postpone the match right after setting the date. I'm not sure what they're thinking with this one. (Maybe Jericho could call his new buddy Mike Tyson?)

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 12/12/2020

Men’s singles division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley

Cody Rhodes

Darby Allin (AEW TNT champion)

Orange Cassidy

Hangman Page

Lance Archer

PAC

Dustin Rhodes

Scorpio Sky

Matt Sydal

Men’s singles division - heels

Kenny Omega (AEW men’s world champion, AAA mega champion)

MJF

Brian Cage (FTW champion)

Ricky Starks

Eddie Kingston

Sammy Guevara

Powerhouse Hobbs

Matt Hardy

Shawn Spears

Wardlow

Unranked: Brandon Cutler, Colt Cabana, Michael Nakazawa, Peter Avalon

One of the things I like about AEW is that they’ve got so many guys in the mix and I usually know off the top of my head what any of them is up to.  Granted, some of these guys aren’t doing very much, but I at least have a sense of their character and storyline while they’re on the back burner.  I used to like that about WWE, years ago.  But somewhere around 2000 they lost the ability to focus on more than a handful of characters at any given time, which is a big problem when you have a hundred performers on your roster.

As a result, it feels more organic to me when guys like Eddie Kingston and Team Taz jump out of the undercard into the AEW title picture.  On Raw, these guys would be random nobodies in R-Truth skits until Vince McMahon suddenly decided to present them as killer threats to Drew McIntyre, and then they’d lose the title match and be nobodies again.  In AEW, there’s a better flow between “beating jobbers on Dark” and “beating name guys on Dynamite” and “punking out a champion to disrupt the rankings” and “recovering from a big loss by beating midcarders.”  That’s something I haven’t seen in US wrestling for so long, I forgot how much I missed it.

PROTIP FOR TONY KHAN: Try doing that with the women sometime, kthx

Men’s tag team division - babyfaces

The Young Bucks - Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson (AEW tag team champions)

Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Lucha Bros. - Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix

Jurassic Express - Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt

Private Party - Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss

The Gunn Club - Billy Gunn & Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn

The Varsity Blondes - Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison

Top Flight - Darius Martin & Daunte Martin

Men‘s tag team division - heels

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler

Chris Jericho & Jake Hager

Miro & Kip Sabian

The Butcher & The Blade

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

The Hybrid2 - Jack Evans & Angelico

The Acclaimed - Anthony Bowen & Max Caster

Chaos Project - Luther & Serpentico

Alan Angels & Preston Vance

This has to be the deepest tag team division I’ve ever seen in pro wrestling.  I suppose maybe some group in Mexico might have more teams.  But 20 active teams is practically unheard of for a major-league US promotion.  Even New Japan could only find 10 teams for World Tag League, and half of them were one-off combinations.

One caveat is that the “Jericho and Hager focus on tag wrestling” thing may or may not be a long-term direction.  And Colten, Pillman, Garrison, and Serpentico are not (to my knowledge) under contract.  But that’s balanced out a bit by the tandems that haven’t competed in the last 30 days (Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall, Santana & Ortiz), and the potential for other alliances to be full-time dedicated tag teams (MJF & Wardlow, Team Taz).

The advantage of having this many teams is that you get booking in the tag division like you’d see in the singles divisions of most promotions.  You can actually have four or five teams on hot streaks, because there are plenty of lesser teams to put them over, so they don’t have to go 50-50 with each other.  You can actually have a group of teams acting as a midcard, that lose to the top guys but can beat anybody else.  And there are maybe six teams here that I’d call jobber teams, but they still win sometimes because they beat each other, or the freelancers on AEW Dark.  It’s a good ecosystem.

Women’s singles division - babyfaces

Hikaru Shida (AEW women’s world champion)

Big Swole

Serena Deeb (NWA women’s world champion)

Thunder Rosa

Leva Bates

Shanna

Leyla Hirsch

Red Velvet

KiLynn King

Women’s singles division - heels

Nyla Rose

Britt Baker

Abadon

Anna Jay

Penelope Ford

Diamante

Ivelisse

The AEW women’s division suffered a lot this spring from injuries and travel restrictions, but I’d say they’ve mostly recovered from those setbacks.  Most of the women listed above weren’t even in the company before March.  Collaborating with the NWA (Thunder Rosa) and pushing freelancers (Diamante, Ivelisse, Hirsch, Velvet, and King) has yielded a deeper roster than they had in 2019.

That being said, TV time is still an egregious problem for this division.  AEW is clearly wary about chasing viewers off to NXT if they run too many women’s segments on Dynamite.  If feels like they’re waiting for something that’ll make it the right time to actually push the division.  But the perfect moment will never come, so they might as well go with the hand they have.

It looks like the brewing Brandi Rhodes vs. Jade Cargill feud is going to expand to include (at least) Nyla, Swole, Deeb, Velvet, Diamante, and Ivelisse.  So if we see various matchups among those women for a few weeks (alongside Shida vs. Abadon and Baker vs. Rosa), then great!  If it just means one multi-woman tag on Dynamite, then it doesn’t really address the problem.

No matches in the last 30 days: Emi Sukara, Jade Cargill, Mel, Santana, Ortiz, QT Marshall, Riho, Tay Conti, The Bunny, Yuka Sakazawi

At some point CIMA and T-Hawk were quietly removed from the roster on AEW’s website.  With Shanna and PAC back in Jacksonville, that only leaves Sukara, Riho, and Sakazawi as the contracted performers out of action because of the pandemic.

Part-timers: Awesome Kong, Dallas Page, Dasha, Rebel, Sting

Kong has been out for nearly a year with no explanation besides a kayfabe injury.  My understanding was that she would be taking time off to film GLOW, but then the show was canceled, so I don’t know if she’s healing from real injuries or taking time off or what.  DDP is 64 and the last time I saw him on AEW programming he was mentoring QT Marshall from inside his house, so I’m pretty sure he won’t be back until after the pandemic.  Dasha and Rebel aren’t listed by AEW as wrestlers but they’ve each had matches this year.

Interestingly, Sting is listed on the official roster as a competitor with a 0-0 record in the promotion.  That seems like the surest sign yet that AEW plans to book him in a match.  He’s 61, but I suppose DDP wrestled this year at 63 years old.  He was forced into retirement with spinal stenosis, but I suppose Edge came back from that after a lot of rest and for a lot of money.

Inactive

Brodie Lee (ankle - undisclosed injury)

Brandi Rhodes (arm - storyline injury)

Kris Statlander (left knee - ACL tear)

I’m kinda surprised there aren’t more people on the shelf than this.  (And technically Brandi isn’t really hurt and probably won’t be selling it much longer.)  It feels like AEW has had a lot of injury problems this year, but I suppose they’ve managed to avoid a lot of major surgeries.