Best and Worst Champions

[Zone Was Wrong]

So I was curious who we think, so far, has been the best and worst champions for each title.

Best AEW World: I'd say Moxley's runs as champ have been easily the best. Good stories, lots of challengers, nothing seemed to drag on really.

Worst: Hard to choose since MJF's is just starting but either him of Hangman's. Probably MJF so far since the feuds so far have been crap and really just hasn't clicked as champ for me.

Best Tag: Probably Hangman/Omega. Some great feuds and amazing matches. Their match with the Bucks was probably my favorite match in AEW.

Worst Tag: ....I mean they haven't done a whole lot but yeah...The Gunns. Don't feel like a threat, not that great in the ring. Just don't feel like champs to me.

Best Women's: Toni Storm for me. Really brought relevance back to the title, had fantastic matches, and really brought her A game. Hayter is up there but she's had some weird lack of featured matches of late that feels like has cooled her down a bit. Not much, just a bit.

Worst Women's: Toss up between Rosa and Britt but I'll go Britt since at least Rosa has the excuse she was hurt for her run. Britt just buried people and had the same matches every time.

Best TNT: Joe. Dude felt like an absolute monster as champ and was a final boss kind of dude. Darby a close 2nd.

Worst: Sammy and Sky just seem like ties for the worst. Just terrible runs by them.

Best TBS: N/A
Worst TBS: Jade.

Trios still feels too new and I can't really say, All Atlantic/International title is the same for me.

[Kalmia]

AEW World Title

Best: Either Mox's first run or Kenny's. I think Mox probably just shades it because he kept the ship afloat during the pandemic.
Worst: Either of CM Punk's. That's not me hating on Punk, just on the fact that he was almost immediately injured both times and didn't have a chance to do much.

Womens

Best: Shida. Like Mox, kept the ship steady when it needed it.
Worst: Thunder Rosa. The injury came at a bad time for her.

TNT Title

Best: Cody's first run. The open challenge gimmick was amazing and gave us Eddie Kingston.
Worst: Scorpio Sky. They didn't seem to know what to do with him when he had the belt.

Tag Title

Best: Hangman/Omega. Banger matches and dramatic storytelling.
Worst: The Gunns. It doesn't feel fair to call it the worst when they still have the titles, but so far, it is.

I don't think the TBS, Trios, or All-Atlantic/International have enough champs to fairly judge.

[Dang!]

Worst AEW World Champ is CM Punk by a landslide.

[Facetious]

Best:

World: Jericho. A great way to establish the title with him working with young guns and established guys.

TNT: Darby's second.

Tag: Young Bucks first. This was a toss up on Hanger and Omega and them, but even with their reign getting old with the shenanigans, I loved it. They started off okay as faces before turning heel and upping the reign before a satisfying conclusion with the Lucha Bros

Womens: Hayter

Worst:

World: Punk. Both of his reigns were absolutely nothing. At least his second erased Mox's shortest status

Tag: Gunns. A quick 3 week reign would have been fine for the story their telling, but they were not ready for this and the fact they've been hidden the entire reign proves it.

TNT: Oh God, this one is hard. Maybe a tie between Sammy and Scorpio during their dog shit feud. A real turd of a program that refused to end and hurt everyone involved.

Womens: Rosa. What should have been a promising reign was just filled with blunders of booking and injuries.

[Mozenrath]

Mar 20, 2023 11:36:40 GMT -5 Dang! said:

Worst AEW World Champ is CM Punk by a landslide.

Yeah, it's honestly not even close. Is it entirely fair? No, but how would it not be him?

[Dub H]

So I was curious who we think, so far, has been the best and worst champions for each title.

Best AEW World: Kenny Omega, banger matches and great end.

Worst: CM Punk easily.

Best Tag: Hang Man and Omega was a long and awesome tag run that every match and episode told a history.

Worst Tag: SCU, as much as they tried to use it to propel Sky , both man were bland as it comes. Plain Bread is too good for SCU.

Best Women's: Riho's , she just knocked it out of the park every single time.
Worst Women's: Britt Baker, just a reign of Britt burying everyone


Best TNT: Mr Brodie Lee,as much the ending SUCKED, when he won it and while he held it,it made it feel like a big deal.
Worst: Scorpio Sky, I dont think I need to say more


And I know the All Atlantic/International had...two champions but Orange Cassidy's Run is just too good.

[SneakMan]

World
Best: Kenny. Consistently great matches, even with him working hurt, and lost at the right time to the right person.
Worst: Punk's second run. Got injured in the match where he won it, celebrated by publicly revealing himself to be an egomaniac douche.

TNT
Best: Tie between Cody's first run and Darby's second run. Both reigns featured great matches against a wide variety of opponents, took full advantage of the title's open challenge gimmick, and made the belt feel super important.,
Worst: Sammy's third run. Didn't even last two weeks, was part of the miserable Sammy/Scorpio feud that killed both guys' heat. 

Tag
Best: The Bucks' first run. Consistently great matches and the reign both started and ended with legit classics (with particular note going to the Lucha Bros cage match, because goddamn that match ruled). 
Worst: The Gunns. Enough said.

Women's
Best: Gonna give the nod to Shida here. She was a major stabilizing force for the women's division at a time when they needed it most, and had good matches with just about everyone she faced. 
Worst: Britt's run went waaaaay too goddamn long, which made the flaws in her booking stand out that much more. 

Can't judge the TBS, International, or Trios belts since they've had so few champions. 

[Dub H]

I like how its almost universally agreed that Wardlow's 5 Day Reign is better than whatever that shit with Sky and Sammy was

[Mid-Carder]

Punk has to be the worst champion of all the titles just because neither of his reigns really got going

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

Mar 20, 2023 11:36:40 GMT -5 Dang! said:

Worst AEW World Champ is CM Punk by a landslide.

There’s something so right about this basically being undisputed.

Best World: For me, probably Jericho. Closely followed by Kenny.
Worst World: Ahahahaha

Best tag: Kenny/Hanger. Bucks probably follow second for me.
Worst: ass boys.

Best TNT: my favorite may have been Miro.
Worst TNT: the sky/sammy shit. Wardlows latest thing comes close cuz Dah fuq.

Best Women’s: Hayter
Worst Womens: Thunder Rosa.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Mar 20, 2023 15:50:11 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

Punk has to be the worst champion of all the titles just because neither of his reigns really got going

First reign ended after the first match he had as champion, injuring himself on a self imposed stage dive into fans

Second reign ended on a torn pec, and even if there wasn't a scrumgate, he would have had to vacate the belt again

Unfortunate circumstances but the fact it happened twice definitely should tell Tony that even if he comes back, he can't be world champion again.

[Doo Doo is a Ratings Expert]

I think OC's All Atlantic/International reign is going to be way up there even 3-4 years from now.

[kingoftheindies]

World Champ
Best-Have to say Hangman. The story for him winning it was amazing, and while some didn't like the reign, dude had nothing but great match after great match

Worst-CM Punk. 2 immediate injuries after winning the title is rough to comeback from.

TNT Champ
Best-Miro. Dude was a straight killer for months and had a slew of underrated matches.

Worst- Wardlow. While the Sammy/Scorpio feud did damage to the belt, they still featured the belt... plus they both had some good matches as champ. Wardlow winning the belt was cool, but aside from the Orange Cassidy match, this was nothing but forgettable matches and Wardlow being in trios or tag matches.

Tag Titles
Best- Young Bucks. While I really wanted to give either Jurassic Express or the Acclaimed some love for what I felt were two very underrated reigns, the Bucks were the main event as champs. Let me put it this way, as heel champs the Bucks made fans cheer for the goobers that are the Varsity Blondes.

Worst-SCU. I know people don't like the Ass Boys, but they do at least get a lot of reaction. While it cab be argued whether or not these are good reactions or not, they are still reactions. The crowds couldn't care less about Kaz and Scorp... and I honestly don't remember a single match they had during their reign.

Women's

Best- Toni Storm. Interim or not, Toni showed to be a workhorse and was a huge reason for the perception change of the women's division. While Hayter is having a reign that will surpass Toni's, I have to give Toni the edge for being the main reason the negative perception around the women's division started to change... though I do have to give Britt a shout for her reign... I just think she lost all momentum after Revolution.

Worst- Thunder Rosa. I almost said Nyla because of the length but she was screwed over by the Pandemic. While Rosa's title win was an awesome moment, injuries and drama really derailed the reign. Plus when she was given the time to do promos that weren't pretaped she really struggled.

Trios

Best- The Elite. I wasn't going to grade this because there's only been three champs, but I thought about it and will explain. When Kenny returned they made a big deal about the Trios title being created and going into All Out they felt like a prize. Ever since The Elite returned at Full Gear? The belts feel like a prize. While AEW isn't the first to have a trios title, with The Elite around they've made sure these don't feel like a consolation prize (which I think has happened in New Japan and ROH) and IMO have brought a new found respect for Trios matches... which brings me to...

Worst- Death Triangle. Love all three and glad they got the title reign they did and had the best of seven series with The Elite, but belts didn't feel like they mattered until the original champs came back. Not only did it feel like they were keeping the belts warm for the Elite to return, but it also felt like the titles were just part of a narrative AEW was using to build up OC beating PAC for the All-Atlantic/International title.

I won't grade the other two titles but I will say this. While PAC had good matches in other promotions as champ and was a fine choice for first champion, Orange Cassidy has had an amazing title run and has really made that belt matter. With the TBS title? I get Jade winning the belt, and I do think she's had some underrated matches as champ (also some very bad matches), the title reign has ran it's course.

[Dub H]

For all the critiques she gets, Jade got the best TBS Title Reign of the last 3 Years.

[smokinvokoun86]

World:
Best:
Jon Moxley. Kenny Omega had a fantastic run and I think match quality wise Hangman run is highly underrated. But Moxley to me is the one that carried the belt the best. To me, he is Mr AEW.
Worst:
CM Punk. Even winning it twice can’t change the fact that the guy got injured both times he won it and never really had a run with it. Injuries and of course the “Incident” derailed that one.

TNT:
Best: Cody Rhodes. First three time champion, helped elevate Brodie Lee, Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara by making them look like a million bucks when they beat him. Introduced the open challenge that introduced the AEW world to Ricky Starks and Eddie Kingston. Despite people hating him at the time, he helped make the TNT title feel important.
Worst: Scorpion Sky. I didn’t want to put Sammy here because he did have a lot of great matches in his runs, even if the storyline sucked. But when Sky won the belt the two times he did, I think he did the least with it, not his fault of course. But the whole Sammy/Sky feud might have been one of the worst feuds AEW has done:

Tag Team:
Best: The Young Bucks, the first reign specifically. I think as of now the best period of AEW storyline wise had to have been the era when The Elite were the clear top heels, with Omega as World champ and The Bucks as tag. The Bucks just had classic after classic after classic. With the All Out cage match with The Lucha Brothers being one of the best matches in AEW history, a match where I actually cried at the end because of how amazing it was. That’s because the Bucks were booked strong, very hatable heels, had all these close calls where you wanted to finally see them lose, and when they did it was great! So I’m the long haul, they were phenomenal tag champs.
Worst: Sadly, it’s SCU. It’s still too early to judge The Gunns as they are at least very over as heels. And SCU weren’t really bad, just kind of disappointing and got overshadowed by more interesting teams. Also, when AEW started they were very a charismatic team and then when they won, that all seemed to go away and they got stale.

Women’s:
Best:That’s a tough call for me. Probably Toni Storm’s tho I do have a soft spot for Hikaru Shida’s run.
Worst: Thunder Rosa. Which sucks because I really was thrilled when she won. But injuries held her back, and her being gone a long time kind of damaged the title to be honest. I hope when she comes back fully healthy she can get another crack at it.

The rest of titles either haven’t been around long enough and Jade is the only TBS Champion. So not much to say there.

[clifford]

World title
Best: Kenny's. Had the Fenix, Christian (twice), Triple Threat with OC & Pac and Mox (twice) matches which all ranged from very good to incredible. Had the best and most satisfying ending I've ever seen to a multi-year feud with Hangman, which was also an incredible match. Also had the non-title 5 star draw with Danielson during the reign.

Worst: OK, I'm going to eliminate Punk from this cause he never got going, and go with Jericho's; and that wasn't even a bad world title reign, its just the weakest of any not by Punk. AEW have done a really good job of booking decent world title reigns outside of Punk, which was out of their hands.


Women's title
Best: Shida's. Loved that reign. She was presented as an absolute star and the ace of the division. Didn't matter so much of it happened during the weekly Dailys Place-era, this reign was great.

Worst: Britt's. Awful reign that spun its wheels for months where every title match ended in the same tired interference bullshit.


Tag Titles
Best: Hangman & Kenny just shade the Acclaimed for me; amazing matches and great storyline both within the tag team and in their opponents

Worst: Bucks' second reign was completely forgettable.


TNT title
Best: Miro's reign was the most fun; him just destryoing dudes and his match with Eddie were amazing. It felt like we were watching the emergence of a main event hoss the likes of which hadn't been seen in decades. Oh well...

Worst: That whole Sammy & Sky shit. Dumb.


As an aside I think that OC's All Atlantic/International title reign is the best non-world title reign in AEW's short history so far. It's been incredible.

[msc]

Best

World Title - Kenny Omega. Lots of big matches, made the title important with the promotion wars/heel turn to get it, built up to a good end game with Hangman.

Tag - Ray Fenix and Penta - well, I was hope to see them get a push!

Womens - Britt Baker (though the reign went far too long)

TBS - Jade Cargill

Trios - Death Triangle and their series of awesomeness

TNT - Mr Brodie Lee. He just looked the part, and was involved in 2 standout pandemic era matches, and some good segments.

Worst

World Title - CM Punk. Nearly torpedoed the title.

Tag - Ass Boys

Womens - Thunder Rosa

TBS - Jade Cargill

Trios - It's been the Elite, DT and House of Black - so N/A

TNT - Scorpio Sky

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

Mar 20, 2023 15:15:22 GMT -5 SneakMan said:

World
Best: Kenny. Consistently great matches, even with him working hurt, and lost at the right time to the right person.
Worst: Punk's second run. Got injured in the match where he won it, celebrated by publicly revealing himself to be an egomaniac douche.

This might be THE absolute worst World title reign in all of pro wrestling.

I can't think of what you could do to hurt the company you're working for in such a short period of time to top this

[Mozenrath]

World title Best: Probably Omega. It got a little long in the tooth at times, but the ending was well-worth the wait.
Worst: CM Punk. It was snake-bitten, sure, but it is what it is. 2 world title wins, 0 successful defenses. That's not a strong showing.

Women's title Best: Hikaru Shida. I would not be surprised if she goes down as the longest reigning one. She was sometimes hampered by not having access to top challengers, but she was a workhorse as usual, and held the division together during its harshest test.
Worst: Thunder Rosa. Injuries meant that by the time she got the title, she was hurt, and that plus supposed drama hung a cloud over everything. A shame, as her feud with Britt was strong.

Tag Titles: Page/Omega was my favorite. It's between them and the Young Bucks, really, both tore down the house many times.
Worst: I am softer on the Gunn Club than many, but it's unfortunately them by default. I know the title reign isn't over yet, but it's clear they're in this position to grow, and that means that as it stands, they are firmly behind everyone else who has won the titles as more complete performers. I do hope they rise to the occasion, but it has not happened yet.

TNT title: Cody Rhodes' first reign. Strong challengers, book ended by two solid feuds, and it got Starks and Kingston their jobs.
Worst: Either Scorpio Sky's first reign or Guevara's last. Guevara's was infuriatingly short to beg the question of why they bothered, which unlike Wardlow's most recent reign, was also mired in a bad feud. Scorpio's first reign was spent in the shadow of Lambert, Ethan Page, and Tay Conti, all of whom seemed to get much more focus in the feud. It was absolutely trash.

The Atlantic/International title, the TBS, and the Trios are all too new to say, especially the TBS title as it's literally just one person, obviously.

[Hypnosis]

Best:

World: Kenny Omega
TNT: Miro
Tag Team: Hangman & Omega
Women's: Hikaru Shida

Worst:

World: CM Punk
TNT: Scorpio Sky
Tag Team: The Gunns/Ass Boys
Women's: Britt Baker.  Too much outside interference during her reign, and it was obvious that she wasn't losing the belt until the Rosa feud restarted.