Every AEW Title Reign Ranked From Worst To Best
3. Cody - TNT Title
There was, before the unveiling of the new redesign this week, a very rich visual poetry to the unfinished 'Ruby' that came to symbolise the heart and the heft of the run.
Ruby was a piece of tin - almost literally a blank canvas - and it served as a potent metaphor for an organic narrative that has developed itself.
Much like the old title belt, the story arc of the TNT Title was and is shaped by circumstance. Cody initially defended it against Jungle Boy and Marq Quen. In both matches, he developed a new, aggressive demeanour. He wasn't just the magnanimous hero winning quality TV matches in which he sold a bit for the babyfaces; he had to sacrifice the saviour aura he had developed in 2019 for the more noble purpose of making the midcard, the next generation.
The Ricky Starks and Eddie Kingston matches were both fantastic. They were so fantastic that both men painted themselves on the canvas of AEW's format having secured deals on the strength of performances fantasy booked in the more ardent circles of Twitter. The fans wanted Warhorse and they got Warhorse, and he was game, but he didn't quite meet the standard. And you know what?
That's a good thing. There's a rough and unvarnished quality to all this that resonates with far more ambition than failure.
Combined with more polished efforts against Jake Hager (a massive over-delivery) and Scorpio Sky (a really well-told story), the TNT Title run is becoming iconic.