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wrestlingisfake · 1 year

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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.

#aew #fake rankings

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unlikelywrestlingfan · 2 years

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Forbidden Door Predictions and Desires

I will not be liveblogging, but here are my predictions and desires for the matches!!!

Interim AEW Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Prediction: Mox - as cools as it would be for the AEW title to travel, I think they’re gonna keep it in the states Want: I would be okay with either!! I will officially be rooting for Mox as a long time fave, but Tanahashi winning would be fun too! I just hope they both have fun :D

IWGP Championship: Jay White (c) vs. "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Adam Cole vs. Kazuchika Okada Prediction: Jay White. Yeah, I know, I know, “But Elle you’re the leader of the SBC and the originator of the Spite Jay White Agenda,” I KNOW okay? I don’t want it to happen, but I’m pretty sure it will. I don’t think they would have Jay take the title from Okada and then immediately uno reverse card. I don’t think they’re gonna have the title in AEW. And Jay has history with all of them in some way or another and this furthers his whole I’m The Best All This Is Because of Me agenda. Want: Anyone but Jay. In order of preference - Hangman, Okada, Cole. Hangman would be a cool full circle from his time in New Japan like he talked about in the Road To. Okada - need I explain? And Cole is my fave to hate on, but he is fantastic and this would also drive an Adam Squared feud XD.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Mystery Opponent Prediction: Mystery Opponent! Since Bryan specifically mentioned this mystery person joining AEW and the BCC, it wouldn’t make sense for them to debut with a loss at a ppv. Want: It depends who it is XD. I don’t know ZSJ very well, but I like what I’ve seen! If it’s who I want it to be, I very much want Mystery Opponent to win. But we’ll see!

AEW Women's Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm Prediction: Thunder Rosa, I think. I’m not as confident about this one. She hasn’t had the title long, so I don’t think they will take it off her yet. But they also haven’t had her on TV a lot so :( hard to say. Want: Both women are fab!! I will be rooting for Rosa; I want to see more of her reign and more stories!!

AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Malakai Black vs. Miro vs. Clark Connors vs PAC Prediction: Uhhhhhhh, I think PAC or Malakai? Clark Connors is fab, but I don’t think he’s well known enough with the AEW crowd to win, and he is also a last minute replacement. Malakai and PAC both haven’t held gold here yet, so I think it will be one of them. I’m leaning towards PAC, but I think that’s because... Want: PAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is one of my favorites in AEW, and I want to see him with a title!!!

Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta and Shota Umino Prediction: Truly not sure...I think maybe Jericho, Guevara, and Suzuki win but then Eddie and Co beat JAS at Blood and Guts. Want: EDDIE AND MOX’S SONS I NEED IT I WANT IT

Winner-take-all Ring of Honor and IWGP Tag Title match: FTR vs. Roppongi Vice vs. United Empire Prediction: FTR with all the gold - they’ve been pushed recently, and while I don’t know a lot about United Empire, I can’t see Roppongi Vice (as fab as they are) winning this one. FTR has narrative momentum. Want: I will be rooting for both FTR and Roppongi Vice!! I won’t be super mad if United Empire wins though.

Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy: IWGP US Title Prediction: Honestly ???????????????????????????????????? Want: Go OC!!!!

The Young Bucks, El Phantasmo w/ Hikuleo vs. Sting, Darby Allin, and Shingo Takagi Prediction: My initial guess was the Bullet Club team (vomiting in my mouth), but I’m really not sure. Want: *vibrating with passion* SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the Bucks, and seeing them team with ELP is going to hurt me, but you better believe I’m rooting for Sting!!!!!!!!!!

Kickoff show match: Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru Prediction: Swerve in Our Glory - they’ve been having IssuesTM recently so I think they win here and recoup or they win and Keith attacks Swerve or or they lose and break up. But I think they’ll win. Want: I’d be happy with either!!

Kickoff show match: QT Marshall and Aaron Solo vs. Hiroki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi Prediction: Let’s guess Hiroki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi! Want: YOH’S DAD YOH’S DAD

Kickoff show match: Max Caster and the Gunn Club vs. Yuya Uemura, Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight and The DKC Prediction: Don’t know enough to say so let’s just guess and say LA Dojo? Want: Either would be fun, but I’ll root for the LA Dojo boys XD

#forbidden door #elle watches ppv #unlikelywrestlingfan

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deathtriangles · 2 years

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The way AEW often sets up feuds means we likely going to get fed with any one of Penta vs Black, Penta vs King, PAC vs King and a tag match before Malakai vs PAC and it’s going to be great.

YESSSSSSS like one of my fave programmes in aew was death triangle vs kingston’s fam because we got some awesome underrated matches like pac and fenix vs butcher and blade and pac vs butcher before the blowoff pac vs kingston match. it made it so much more enjoyable! I’d love to see all these matches tbh especially the tag match!!!

#YESSSS TO ALL THIS #ngl it’s why I enjoyed tayjay vs bunnelope more than the average person #because I’m a fan of all four ladies and we got all the singles matches we could get #it was great!!!!!!! so I’d love to see king in singles action #x . amy speaks

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dani-the-mark · 3 years

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AEW Dynamite 9/15/21 Review

Adam Cole vs Frankie Kazarian

Some debuts go soft, put someone new, maybe a jobber, so they win it clean. For Adam, his goes hard. CM Punk is scouting? Good. He should be. That Panama sunrise was beautiful, the match was full and exciting, and Adam Cole is all elite

MJF Promo

This was admittedly hard to watch. He goes too hard sometimes, which I know is the point. But overall, this was just...yikes.

Dante Martin and Matt Sydal vs FTR

Bringing up Dash’s wound makes my toes curl. I’m glad to see him in the ring, even if Dante owned major parts of this match and did overshine everyone.

Malakai Black Promo

CODY! AND…ROSARIO DAWSON? This caught me off guard, but I loved it. I was worried that this show was going to just be about the build-up and putting together official matches for next week, so seeing the crowd get a fight they could enjoy was nice.

Dan Lambert Promo

Chris Jericho is my idol. Also, the fat-shaming seemed too far? I’m exactly the audience he’s trying to piss off though so fair.

Jade Cargill vs Leyla Hirsch

Powerhouses in the ring, these women. Jade had a clear upper hand tonight, but I feel like this feud is evenly matched and I’m excited to see more.

Darby Allen vs Shawn Spears

They wasted no time getting this one started, and I loved that along with Tully trying to protect his boy. liked the ending and use of the stairs too, very practical. I get the analogy of removing Darby and Sting’s face paint, but it was a weird execution. Like they were trying to go for a demasking like that doesn’t naturally happen in the ring almost every time?

Bryan Danielson Promo

He doesn’t give a singular fuck anymore. I’m excited to meet Bryan, this is a character I’ve never known. It’s clear Daniel Bryan is dead, and I’m locked in for the new ride.

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs 2.0

Jon has taken up biting permanently, and I’m here for it. Let’s be honest though, there’s been a pattern recently. Jon and Eddie come out, beat someone with any range of relation/history, Suzuki shows, and we eat it up. At least this time the crowd gets a treat and a full fight after the show closes. So, good for them.

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danwhobrowses · 2 years

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AEW Full Gear 2021 - Does AEW Replace Jon Moxley in the Finals?

Today the wrestling world has been hit with news of AEW’s Jon Moxley entering an inpatient alcohol treatment program. It is extremely brave of Jon to confront his demons like this for his health and family and we should and do support him in his efforts.

For AEW’s narrative however this does cause a bit of a wrinkle, because Moxley was a dead cert to face Bryan Danielson as a finalist in the AEW World Title Eliminator. With Moxley stepping away from the ring, AEW lack a growing heel character to insert into the mix, so now we will look at the options of what they can do from here. Bear in mind though, I am fully supporting of Moxley in this endeavour and hope he makes a full recovery, I want to be clear that this isn’t a post meant to imply that Jon is causing AEW a problem by seeking help, this is more of a who could we see fill the spot kinda post.

While there are a lot of worthy candidates to compete in this tournament, we must also remember that a lot of AEW’s top non-champion men are already engaged in feuds; Adam Cole vs Jungle Boy, MJF vs Darby (and by extension Wardlow and Sting will be occupied), Kingston vs Punk, Jericho and the Inner Circle vs ATT and the likes of PAC, Andrade and Malakai are warped into the Codyverse. So unfortunately that does mean that some great challengers are unlikely options.

We can however break this down to 2 simpler options: Replace or Not Replace.

Not Replace

The simplest option of course is to not replace, and with Jon’s withdrawal we have the option to either give the win to Orange Cassidy or give another challenger eliminated a second chance. Unfortunately with Archer’s injury this limits the options to Hobbs, Kingston, Dustin or 10.

Hobbs and 10 have a lot of promise and Dustin is like fine wine - someone I will always be hyped to see, but sadly I don’t see either being a fitting replacement for someone of Moxley’s calibre, the finals should exude a Dream Match aura after all. Since Dustin already lost cleanly to Bryan, Hobbs cleanly to Cassidy and 10 was decimated by Moxley, it does limit our options to 2.

Sticking with Orange Cassidy is by no means a bad choice. Cassidy has already been cheated out of victory by Don and Kenny during their Triple Threat at Double or Nothing, and a match against Bryan can still be a clash of styles; fighter vs entertainer. What deflates the prospect is that it’s face vs face, which will either influence fans’ predictions towards the main event and the outcome of this match. Since neither have stake or beef should Hangman win, it means a lot more work would have to be put into making both of them possible challengers for Hangman, having only been established for Kenny.

Because of this there would be a potential option to delay Punk vs Kingston and try to top the excellent Bryan vs Kingston semi-final match by having Kingston fight in his friend’s stead. Using his building anger to press a heel turn from Eddie and using that to ease Moxley’s return into the heel turn they were building up beforehand. Given their friendship, there is a coherent story there they can apply, and since Kingston did not submit against Bryan there’s reason to give him another chance.

Of these options for the Not Replace path, there is perhaps more stock in giving Eddie the second crack, while this does mean that AEW will then have to rebook an opponent for Punk, they can always Send Hook, or better yet make it a 4-Way between OC, Bryan, Kingston and Punk (this is unlikely if they are planning a 4-Way between those in the Codyverse though, and they would probably want Punk’s first L to be momentous).

Replace

Another route is of course giving the slot to someone else previously not in the tournament to fight in Moxley’s stead. Doing this does imply that they will also likely fill Moxley’s slot in the finals, but there are still a few candidates to go for.

Like Kingston, we may simply delay some feuds for the finale. Punk for instance does want that match with Bryan, and what better stage to do it? Putting Punk in Moxley’s spot could further infuriate Kingston to progress their feud post-Full Gear. Jungle Boy too could have his return delayed and allow Adam Cole Baybay to cross paths with Bryan - while also sowing tension on what happens if the Elite win as planned. The Codyverse 4-Way could also be used as a means to pick a finalist, even though Cody shouldn’t qualify given how he intends to stick to his failed gambit back when Jericho was champ. While not feuding, Wardlow is currently occupied in MJF and Darby’s clash, but that doesn’t mean he can’t consider branching out; he was after all a part of last year’s tournament, and he would be a good powerhouse to pit against Bryan.

Although AEW have been successful in keeping their top stars busy, not all of them have ended up being booked so far. Questions can be made over whether Moxley’s spot should go to a younger talent looking for a dream match with Bryan such as Daniel Garcia (what a first TV win it’d be to qualify), Dante Martin, Ricky Starks, returns for Kip Sabian or Anthony Ogogo, or Brian Pillman Jr. Other more veteran figures such as Matt Hardy (seeking revenge on OC, same for Jack Evans), Christian Cage, Disgruntled Powerhouse Brian Cage, Lio Rush (again, a good stage for a debut), Matt Sydal, Frankie Kazarian, a returning Christopher Daniels or CIMA may also throw their names into the gauntlet.

Of those that remain, there is one option that shines above the others: Miro. God’s Forsaken Champion has been delivering promo packages for some time now, if entered into the tournament it could be seen as Divine Providence, a test by God to get back into his good graces. As a narrative, it ties well into Miro’s self-absorbed monomyth, but Miro as a world champion is also something people would like to see, and pitted against Bryan would prove to be a fantastic match.

The final option of course is the Forbidden Door, where all manner of things are possible. I’m sure many would bite at the chance to fight Bryan and OC, ranging from Ospreay, Okada, Tanahashi, Shibata, ZSJ, KENTA, Danhausen, RUSH, Bandido, Nick Aldis, Jeff Cobb, Jay White, Dragon Lee, Moose, Alexander (if he’s fit), Eric Young, Ace Austin and more.

In the pile of options to replace Moxley I could easily see the Forbidden Door or Miro being used, which’d still seal a dream match feel. Overall what AEW chooses is yet to be seen, but they do still have a wealth of options before them

#aew #all elite wrestling #aew full gear #aew dynamite #aew rampage #jon moxley #bryan danielson #Eddie Kingston #orange cassidy

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