10 Things AEW MUST Achieve Over The Next Five Years
4. Maintaining The Integrity Of The Ranking System
Now that 2020 has ended - not that there's any appreciable difference, it's all still a living hell - AEW's ranking system can be assessed.
The verdict is mostly very good, and if it's mixed, it should be. Emotion drives the narrative of pro wrestling as much as accomplishment. AEW must balance that which draws viewers with the framework that makes everything coherent and tethered to viable competition.
The rankings system did so much to inform the heft of AEW's tremendous Tag Team division. FTR got over as the Ace figures over the summer months, whereas the Young Bucks were visibly positioned throughout 2020 in accordance with their arc as top stars who, until they won the big one, were unable to realise their glittering reputation in the mainstream sphere.
In the singles Men's division, MJF's impressive streak informed his successful main event push. Brian Cage's ranking meanwhile informed the gripes of Team Taz - Darby Allin was selected as Cody's Full Gear opponent ahead of AEW's preeminent body guy - and recent events have synergised the rankings system with grudge-based storytelling to distil its potential as a narrative driver.
But there's a dissonance with Shawn Spears. He had a great year under the confines of the system, but was last seen raging against his IRL good-hand stigma. This was a clash between kayfabe and reality that ripped open a plot hole.
AEW arrived at a backwards Women's Title match at Full Gear through apathy. We'd already seen a better, stipped-up match between Hikaru Shida and Nyla Rose. The ranking system in this scenario proved an uninspiring imposition.
Yet omens remain strong for the years ahead; this is a strong innovation AEW must uphold to make it all matter. There's nothing more deadening than meaninglessness.
Just look at WWE.