10 Most Prestigious Titles In American Wrestling Right Now

This list will annoy a lot of people.

In a combat sport where the results are pre-determined, it takes a lot of hard work to make the championships feel prestigious. When the competitive element is taken away from the bout, then the belts themselves are, in a sense, a nice prop.

Well booked champions, stellar championship matches and believable champions are all key ingredients for making a belt feel coveted, and it's a black mark against WWE for how worthless the majority of them felt for such a long time. But, credit where it's due, over the past few years, they have done a great job in re-habilitating them.

All Elite Wrestling is a slightly different beast, as they are still so early into their existence. But right off the bat, they established belts as genuine prizes, through adherence to rankings and a "real sports" feel. Unfortunately, the past twelve months hasn't been as kind, and while Tony Khan has placated an expanded roster and introduced WAY too many titles, lazy booking tropes and a complete abandonment of those rankings has impacted the prestige of their belts.

With so many belts across both companies, there are a few that surprisingly miss out. Recent belts like the AEW All Atlantic and Trios belts don't come anywhere close to this list, and I'll tell you now, the 24/7 Title is nowhere near here.

But which ones did make the list?

Transport yourself back eighteen months to when Miro become AEW TNT Champion, and how big of a deal it felt. As the 'Redeemer', the Bulgarian star was undeniable and honestly, if this list was a year old, this belt would be in contention for top spot.

In an honest attempt to push the recently turned Sammy Guevara as a future face of the company, Tony Khan had the 'Spanish God' defeat the irresistible champion. Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. A five star classic with Cody Rhodes was the highlight of a run, that pretty much turned the IWC against the young man.

An awfully booked feud with Scorpio Sky, who himself just doesn't seem to have the it factor, diminished the belt, as the duo traded it back and forth. Sadly, the belts fallen a long way from the excellent Cody 'open challenges', Brodie Lee's statement making win or Darby Allin's well earned victory.

For it's first eighteen months or so, this belt belt didn't feel like a mid-card title. But nowadays, it most certainly does feel like it, and it's just fallen into the shmozz of belts that Tony Khan has to play with. Following up Wardlow's breakthrough against MJF with a title reign should have restored it to prominence.

But did anyone really care that he lost it to Samoa Joe this past weekend?