AEW TNT Championship: Predicting All 8 Men In The Tournament

RUNNER UP

2. Cody Rhodes

This tournament needs star power. A mid-card championship is normally an absolute nightmare for promotions to correctly book because there's never any clearly defined sweet-spot for worth candidates. For nearly half the roster it's a demotion, for most of the other half it's too much too soon and, for those in the middle who'd make perfect caretakers of the belt, well, they're too predictable.

However right now there's no defined lineage, no history of previous holders to be compared to, and AEW can make it feel like as big or as little a deal as they want to. They need some star power in this tournament and putting their purest babyface in the final - a man who's main-evented and come within inches of winning their top prize - brings much-needed prestige.

It's likely that all of this is Cody's pet project at the moment, and as well as putting the eventual winner over in the final, he can help elevate the other two wrestlers he works with on the way there. At present, he's a World Championship contender who isn't allowed to compete for the World Championship, making this the next best place for him.