AEW rankings: Who’s knocking on Toni Storm’s door?

The AEW rankings are back!

The timing was convenient to be released after Swerve Strickland defeated Konosuke Takeshita on Dynamite to become #1 contender for the AEW World Championship at the Dynasty PPV on April 21. The rankings are pretty much a moot point now for that division, but there are still plenty of nuggets to glean from the top 5 lists.

Let’s break down the AEW rankings.

Tony Khan

Men
World Champion: Samoa Joe
TNT Champion: Adam Copeland
International Champion: Roderick Strong
Continental Champion: Kazuchika Okada
1. Swerve Strickland
2. Orange Cassidy
3. Jon Moxley
4. Will Ospreay
5. Bryan Danielson

With Swerve already securing the world title shot, the interesting part is to observe the landscape that lays ahead for the winner between Swerve and Joe. Cassidy is 7-1 this year in singles action with his only loss coming to Strong. If Cassidy isn’t occupied in the tag team division after Dynasty, it would be a good time to shoot him into challenging for AEW’s top prize. OC likely would not win, but he would be a draw and good notch on the champ’s résumé. Moxley is 4-0, and he is without a direction for the PPV. Stepping up to face Copeland for the TNT title would be an interesting choice, and I believe it would be a first-time matchup. That sounds like the type of challenge Moxley appreciates. Ospreay is 3-0, and Danielson is 5-1 with a loss to Eddie Kingston. The Aerial Assassin is set to wrestle the American Dragon at Dynasty. The winner of that bout could find themselves in the driver seat for the next PPV world title shot.

Women
World Champion: Toni Storm
TNT Champion: Julia Hart
1. Thunder Rosa
2. Mariah May
3. Willow Nightingale
4. Deonna Purrazzo
5. Serena Deeb

Knock, knock at Storm’s door. Who’s there? THUNDER! ROSA! ROAR! The former champ never lost her title. Thunder was stripped due to injury, so it naturally makes sense to give her a chance at Dynasty. Despite sitting at #1, Thunder doesn’t have a strong résumé yet. Her four wins were over Queen Aminata, Red Velvet, Lady Bird Monroe, and Cassandra Golden. It could be argued that May deserves the top spot with her five wins over Queen Aminata, Lady Frost, Anna Jay, Angelica Risk, and Trish Adora. Purrazzo is also angling for a rematch with Storm. One of those three needs to earn it in the ring, or perhaps it becomes a four-way. Willow will be busy challenging Hart for TBS gold at Dynasty.

Tag Team
World Champion: vacant
1. Best Friends (Trent Beretta & Orange Cassidy)
2. Young Bucks
3. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli)
4. Big Bill Morrissey & Ricky Starks
5. FTR

The tag team tournament will crown the next champion, so these rankings are pointless for now. Of note, the BCC aren’t participating in the competition, however, they are holding strong at #3 due to their victory over FTR.

Trios
World Champion: The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn
1. Bullet Club Gold
2. The Elite
3. Blackpool Combat Club
4. Undisputed Kingdom
5. House of Black

This division hasn’t been relevant for the year to date. It is just a waiting game until AEW books the Bang Bang Scissor Gang civil war.

Share your reaction to the latest set of AEW rankings.