Ranking Every AEW Championship Reign Of 2023
Grading the best and the most blah of AEW's many title reigns this past year.
AEW's statement of intent seems to be "a little bit of everything, for everyone".
No matter what you like about wrestling, you should be able to find something across their programming that appeals to your tastes. In 2023 fans have witnessed brutal hoss fights, insane death matches, deeply exciting tag team wrestling and long-term character-driven storylines.
The only problem with such variation is a potentially missable mark for quality and simple consistency. This extends to their championship cabinet, too.
It's tough to imagine a successful pro wrestling company without championships because they give something to frame the entire show around. Wrestlers want to prove they're the best by toppling those at the top and taking their gold. In AEW's case, you can try and fail, and then move onto a different belt quite happily because the company seems to reveal a new one every four weeks.
Several titles in AEW are forgettable in and of themselves, let alone some of the champions that have held them. There are also, by comparison, several examples of belts that are debatably some of the most respected titles in American wrestling and reigns that will be etched into history.
26. Wardlow - AEW TNT Championship
Not to put the cart before the horse, but Orange Cassidy's International title reign is going to be pretty close to the top of this list. It's worth mentioning now just for the benefit of this incredible stat:
During Cassidy's first reign with that title, Wardlow lost the TNT Championship three times.
This particular instance is the second. Wardlow beat Samoa Joe for the title at Revolution and then dropped it to Powerhouse Hobbs 3 days later. If you thought AEW didn't do what WWE was so guilty of during the 2010s, proceedings must be kicked off with the most blatant use of a transitional champion ever.