1) Jon Moxley: I'm giving him the nod for a couple reasons. First is how he carried the company through rough patches. Pandemic. Post-Punk Injury and Post Brawl-Out. Basically, if you needed someone to do something and be a main eventer, Mox is your guy. He also generally was able to have good to great matches (Even if his hardcore brawling style isn't for everyone). Moxley is AEW's ace for a reason. He deserves his flowers and once he's done his well earned vacation, he is capable of winning the title again.
2) Kenny Omega: Apart from somewhat infrequent defenses, which has pros and cons, but was with reason due to him being banged up near the end, this was a near perfect reign. (Only 'flaw' was the pyro botch post Barbed-wire Death Match). It was done with purpose and while there was a clear end goal of getting the belt to Hangman, he still was able to have fun and interesting matches in the middle, something I think is a challenge for long title reigns.
3) Swerve Strickland: I'm giving him a nod. Not necessarily due to "impact" in the company's history but due to a few reasons. First, it was a great length. Not too long, but still a solid chunk of the year and it ended in a big way. But I also feel that he was able to evolve as a competitor during this reign, show a balance to his character. That he's beyond just being a face and a heel. He's a bad man, but if people support him, he's cool with you. He is also a likely future multi-time champion.
4) Chris Jericho: Another example of a reign being the right length of time. Jericho was a good choice as the first champion (Shame him near any title now, or TV time is a slog). Established history and legacy, and he gave legitimacy to the belt. He also lost to the right guy at the right time. Really no issues.
5) Hangman Page: The chase is better than the reign itself, but with how great a chase was, it is hard to match it. The start was great with him vs Danielson twice with two fantastic matches. Then came the Cole feud which had good to great matches, but I wish hit a little more given their shared history in BC/The Elite. Then came the Punk story. Backstage issues came to light and while I don't mind Hangman's general promo against Punk, trying to present him as Mr. AEW, seeing Punk as an outsider and not entirely trusting him given his past controversies, him dropping the "Worker's Rights" line ended up resulting in a lot of BS after and the match itself was okay, but rough around the edges. Though the entire saga came with mistakes from both Punk, The Elite camp, and TK, it was a sour end to a reign which was before that pretty good, almost great, though not amazing. I'm expecting he'll be back at the mountain top soon. So he can probably go up the list. #HangmanDidNothingWrong
6) MJF: This would probably be near the top if post All-In they were able to keep the momentum. Will be the longest post because I need to show the two sides of it.
Started with a fantastic moment of him writing off Regal and then beating Danielson in the Ironman. His Four-Pillars feud did stretch a little bit, but was a nice "moment" for them and had a fun/great match which especially helped Perry's arc. He got great heel heat against Tanahashi in a clash of styles which was good for what it was. Then the Face Turn going into All In. At that time he was too over to be a heel and I'd argue he could have still been a face today (though get the heel turn and it worked). The dynamic between him and Adam Cole was fantastic and created laughs, good matches, and a feel good moment at All In last year.
Then Punk got fired when we potentially were going to get the blow off to that story. (Also his suspension did hurt the win a bit).
Then Cole got hurt. First, the BBG/MJF feud itself was good. Though the Roll of Quarters line from Juice did get some flack, and had poor timing as it was the start of the War in Palestine with Israel. Then the match itself at the PPV. It was a good match as a whole. Though did result in MJF's own injuries. But the booking felt TOO super Cena esq. He goes out in an ambulance after getting nearly crippled, fights from underneath, wins. I don't think it buried Jay White like some claimed, but I think it was just a bit too much. If MJF was taken "To the trainer's room" and we got small updates during the night with no double bait and switch with Cole, then it would have been just the right level of "Babyface Scumbag fighting from underneath" without going to parody.
Then the Devil storyline. Idea makes sense. The people responsible made sense, but it dragged on and the tone didn't really fit well with AEW. It went the entire fall. Then the reveal was obvious, where people were hoping for something a bit more shocking as a final reveal with that much payoff. The UK also is hurt by Cole's own injury which sucks. Even if he got a few great matches in there, it was just something which didn't hit. But, he is likely to become champ again. Still giving him his praise for the highs of the reign and look forward to his next run, because when it was good, it was better than most, and I knew it.
7) Samoa Joe: Just a case of a solid reign, even if a transitional one, though didn't have a "WOW" moment, but gave a legend who can still go his flowers and put someone deserving over.
8) Vacant: Vacant added the AEW World Championship to his amazing resume, but much like most cases, was a transitional champ and refused to get pinned to drop the title. But his reign was a chance for AEW to 'reset' itself following the Brawl Out controversy which resulted in him claiming the title for the first time.
9) Bryan Danielson: Just won it, this is basically 'unranked.'
10) CM Punk: He's lower than the title being actually vacated and the guy who JUST won it. As much as I am an AEW fangirl, I can understand some of Phil's gripes early on. A line came out of nowhere in a promo which was a shoot, didn't like it, and he felt it wasn't being addressed well. But then him doing stuff like calling Hangman out in a promo when it wasn't scripted. THEN the All Out press conference, him saying "If you have a problem, my door is open." *Opens door, throws punch, friend bites man trying to protect his dog* and all the shit after like calling out Hangman and the Bucks in promos on Collision when they said "Look, we don't feel ready to talk yet, but if you can show you've grown and not cause shit for about six months, we'll talk" all hurt AEW long-term and they're still recovering. His controversies are tied to the title reign. Had to vent because looking at the reigns itself, it was an injury and interim status. Then for the Mox storyline, probably some flip flop backstage shit because Moxley also didn't appreciate some of his stuff, but the idea of him coming back, shock loss, then Rocky story bounce back from a crushing defeat to win COULD have been interesting, but it was so rushed. Then the All Out press conference, and he forever hurt AEW. This is a title reign which caused long-term damage to AEW behind the scenes and on screen wasn't able to get started due to injury and suspensions.
All I hope is Phil is happy in WWE now, and can end his career on his terms and maybe finds peace.
there isn't to much I would change about his first one reign. The other two reigns are kind of what hurts it a little for me if I'm being honest.
