10 Wild Outside Bets To Become AEW World Champion
Throwing a wrench into Tony Khan's carefully laid plans.
So far in its short history, AEW has been shrewd in booking the World Championship. While there have been moments of injury- or misbehaviour-fuelled hot potatoing, the men who have worn the gold have all felt like The Guy at that moment, whether they’re industry legends or next big things.
While this is, ultimately, a sensible way to book a belt, it does make the lineage a little predictable. One day, perhaps Tony Khan will look over his roster of talent and think “I wonder what would happen if I completely threw caution to the wind?”
Scouring the deeper benches of AEW’s locker room presents some fascinating choices in the world title picture. Whether for storyline purposes, out of reverence to lengthy careers, or just to stir the pot, there are plenty of AEW wrestlers whose addition to the title picture would give the product all the spice you could ever ask for.
Whether these stars could have the impact of a Moxley or Omega will likely remain to be seen for the foreseeable future, but the wrestling business always needs a little chaos and the odd wild decision. It’d be nothing if not sports entertaining.
10. Dustin Rhodes
The former Goldust has stated that 2023 will be his last year in wrestling, and it’s fair to say the senior Rhodes boy has done almost everything one can in the business. From a nepotism-tinged start, he overcame the shadow of his father, accumulated many years in WWE, portrayed a unique character, and enjoyed the winter of his career doing some of his best work.
He’s never been world champion, though, and perhaps that ought to change. Rhodes is the definition of a sentimental favourite in his latter days, and the babyface pop he would garner were he to snatch AEW’s top prize would be monumental. His recent match with Will Hobbs - a little gem on Collision - shows he can still go, even if the end is near.
Ideally, this fantasy booking would see the company following through on CM Punk’s “real world’s champion” claims. The two ex-WWE guys have locked horns in a bout with a surprising edge to it, and straight edge Punk vs someone with past substance issues has always written itself in the past.
Obviously Rhodes couldn’t realistically hold the title for more than a cup of coffee, but his incredible career deserves celebrating while he’s still around to enjoy the adulation.