#mxm collection should be champions by all out

[icanbeyuoronewingedangle]

this is the greatest night in the history of this sport

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 10/20/2024

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Will Ospreay

Darby Allin

Ricochet

Jay White

Mark Briscoe (ROH men's world champion)

Daniel Garcia

Orange Cassidy

Kyle O'Reilly

HOOK

Katsuyori Shibata

Men's singles division - heels

Jon Moxley (AEW men's world champion)

Kazuchika Okada (AEW continental champion)

Adam Page

Konosuke Takeshita (AEW international champion)

Christian Cage

Jack Perry (AEW TNT champion)

Chris Jericho

Kyle Fletcher

Shelton Benjamin

Roderick Strong

Unranked: Aaron Solo, Angelico, AR Fox, Atlantis Jr.*, Big Bill, Bryan Keith, Hologram, Jeff Jarrett, Johnny TV, Juice Robinson, Komander, Lio Rush*, Minoru Suzuki*, Nick Wayne, Rocky Romero*, Serpentico/Jon Cruz, The Butcher

Jobbers: Alpha Zo*, BEEF*, Chris Nastyy*, Cody Chhun*, Jack Cartwheel*, Joe Keys*, Marcus Mathers*, Matt Brannigan*, Olumide*, Ryan Clancy*, TJ Crawford

* Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

Moxley has declared war on the AEW roster (or at least the men's locker room), and it feels like he'll spend at least the next six months clobbering wave after wave of "complacent" midcarders. Darby Allin is clearly being set up as a major destination for this saga, but I'm not certain if he'll be Moxley's first big challenger, or if he'll be saved for the end like Sting in 1997. There's also foreshadowing of Orange Cassidy and Daniel Garcia stepping up, and I think Hook and Kyle O'Reilly would fit in that role as well. But only one guy can get the rub of dethroning Mox, and we'll just have to wait and see who that will be.

Heading into Full Gear on November 23, the other top programs look to be Jay White vs. Adam Page, Ospreay vs. Fletcher, Takeshita vs. Fletcher, Jericho vs. Briscoe, Garcia vs. Perry, Swerve Strickland vs. Shelton Benjamin, and Adam Cole vs. MJF. I expect Hook vs. Christian Cage will be a thing too, but right now it's just an educated guess that Christian is the one who attacked Hook's father.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

FTR - Dax Wheeler & Cash Wheeler

Private Party - Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen

Dustin Rhodes (ROH trios champion) & Sammy Guevara (ROH tag team champions)

The Outrunners - Truth Magnum* & Turbo Floyd*

Men's tag team division - heels

The Young Bucks - Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson (AEW tag team champions)

Grizzled Young Veterans - James Drake* & Zack Gibson*

MxM Collection - Mason Madden* & Mansoor*

Matt Taven & Mike Bennett

Brian Cage (ROH men's television champion) & Lance Archer

Iron Savages - Bulk Bronson* & Beefcake Boulder*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

The state of the tag division is this: The Bucks are heel champions with no one to fight. The Acclaimed haven't ever gotten a clean two-on-two title shot all year, but they don't seem to be in a hurry to get it anymore. FTR and Private Party already lost to the Bucks. The Outrunners, MxM, and the Iron Savages are all cool as hell, but they're comedy acts that can't beat anybody. I don't think GYV have been around since they got upset by the Outrunners, which may be a sign that they aren't going to be back. Rhodes-Guevara and Taven-Bennett are big deals in ROH but off the radar in AEW. Don Callis has put Cage and Archer together to chase the tag title, but I don't see that going anywhere as long as the champions are also heels.

I'd like to see Private Party rack up a big win to get back into the title hunt, but I don't see why that should turn out any differently than the title match they just lost last week. So it feels like the division is going nowhere, marking time until the Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) are ready to feud with the Bucks. Which, I'd be fine with doing that feud, but not if it means keeping the division in deep freeze for a couple more months.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews

Action Andretti & Dante Martin & Darius Martin

Dark Order - Evil Uno & John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Men's trios division - heels

Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta & PAC (AEW trios champions)

La Faccion Ingobernable - Rush & Dralistico & The Beast Mortos

Premier Athletes - Tony Nese & Josh Woods & Ariya Daivari

Moxley's running buddies control the trios title, which works out well since all the undercard scrubs they keep beating up can then demand a match and get clobbered in a trios match. This seems to be giving Dark Order and Action-Darius-Dante something to work with, even if it's not much and they have no hope of winning. I think Daniel Garcia and Private Party would be a stronger trio to go after the title, but they're not done yet with Jack Perry and the Young Bucks.

The House of Black is remarkably well protected for a group that never figures into any major storylines. Are they being built up to take the belts from Claudio, Pac, and Yuta? Could Julia Hart return to counter Marina Shafir? Who knows.

I stuck LFI in the trios division because I really don't know what those three guys are going to do, now that they're all in the same team with Jake Roberts. I don't think AEW knows either, so that'll probably lead to a bunch of throwaway trios matches. Hopefully they can at least win those matches, which would keep them ahead of Neese-Woods-Daivari.

Women's division - babyfaces

Britt Baker

Willow Nightingale

Jamie Hayter

Kris Statlander

Anna Jay

Queen Aminata

Nyla Rose

Yuka Sakazaki

Lady Frost*

Trish Adora*

Women's division - heels

Mariah May (AEW women's world champion)

Mercedes Mone (AEW TBS champion, STRONG women's champion)

Kamille

Serena Deeb

Taya Valkyrie

Emi Sakura

Harley Cameron

Robyn Renegade*

Jobbers: Amira*, Brooke Havok*, Zoey Lynn*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

You'd think Marina Shafir would be running rough-shod over the women's division to lock up its top title the way Moxley has with the men. The problem is that moving the world title would disrupt the Mariah May/Toni Storm/Mina Shirakawa storyline. I guess Shafir could crush Mone, but I don't know if that would do either of them any good. Sooner or later, though, it will become clear that Marina is the woman to beat, which will get awkward if there are too many champions that can't beat her.

As it is, the big programs for the women right now are Mariah vs. Anna Jay, Mone and Kamille vs. Statlander, and, uh, Jamie Hayter vs. Penelope Ford? It feels like there should be more going on right now. But I don't know where Britt and Willow are headed, Deonna Purrazzo and Taya Valkyrie keep doing pre-taped promos about nothing, and Toni Storm is still roaming the world pretending she doesn't know who Mariah May is. After five years AEW's women's roster finally has some real depth, but that only gets the division so far when it only gets 3-4 matches per week.

No televised AEW matches in over 30 days: Abadon, Athena (ROH women's world champion), Brandon Cutler, Diamante, Lee Moriarty (ROH pure champion), Marhsall Von Erich* (ROH trios champion), Preston Vance, Red Velvet (ROH women's television champion), Ross Von Erich* (ROH trios champion), Shane Taylor, Shawn Dean

* Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

Not much new to report about the wrestlers officially signed to AEW but almost exclusively appearing on Ring of Honor. They're on the shows, they're getting work, it's just that almost nobody hears about it. The worst part is most of these names can't even get booked on an ROH pay-per-view.

No televised AEW or ROH matches in over 30 days: Anthony Ogogo, Angelo Parker, Austin Gunn, Bishop Kaun, Bobby Dutch, Colten Gunn, Deonna Purrazzo, Griff Garrison, Hikaru Shida, Jay Lethal, Kip Sabian, Leila Grey, Lee Johnson, Marina Shafir, Matt Menard, Peter Avalon, Swerve Strickland, Thunder Rosa, Toa Liona, Toni Storm, Vincent Marseglia

The bad news is that I don't know why most of these wrestlers haven't been in the ring lately, but the good news is most of them haven't been completely MIA. Some were around in late August/early September, some are on the show right now but not wrestling, and some are booked for the next couple of weeks. That's what I like to see.

No televised AEW or ROH matches in over 90 days: Colt Cabana, Danhausen, Kiera Hogan, Madison Rayne, Mercedes Martinez, Penta El Zero Miedo, Powerhouse Hobbs, Rey Fenix, Ricky Starks

These are the wrestlers I'm worried about. Colt and Madison seem to be transitioning to backstage roles and/or semi-retirement, so that's okay. But I have no idea why Tony Khan would have Danhausen, Starks, Penta, and Fenix on the payroll and not book them. I realize Penta and Fenix are reportedly planning to go to WWE, but that doesn't mean you can use them to do a few jobs on the way out. Hobbs is supposed to be medically cleared, so I don't understand why he wasn't around for the big Don Callis Family promo on October 16. Hogan and Martinez seem to have fallen off the face of the earth.

No televised AEW or ROH matches in 2024: Adam Cole, Kota Ibushi, Michael Nakazawa, Miro, Penelope Ford, Scorpio Sky, Tay Melo

Cole and Ford just got back and should be returning to the ring imminently. Ibushi has already returned to the ring in Japan and I figure he'll be back in an AEW ring soon enough. I've heard Melo is training to return from maternity leave so it's probably just a matter of time. Nakazawa seems to just be a backstage guy at this point. It was recently reported that Miro requested his release, but evidently he hasn't gotten it. AEW was running hype videos for Scorpio a few months ago but then dropped it, so I have no idea.

Part-time/semi-retired: Alex Abrahantes, Karen Jarrett, Luther, Mark Sterling, Nigel McGuinness, Paul Wight, Prince Nana, Rebel, Satnam Singh, Sonjay Dutt, Stokely Hathaway

I suppose I'll have to move Bryan Danielson into this list, once he's gotten his neck issues worked out and if he can still go on a part-time basis.

Inactive

Adam Copeland (left leg - tibia fracture)

Angel Ortiz (right shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Bandido (left arm - wrist fracture)

Bryan Danielson (storyline injuries - probably to set up legit neck surgery)

Chuck Taylor (left ankle - necrosis)

Eddie Kingston (right leg - tibia fracture, ACL/meniscus tear)

Julia Hart (shoulder - unspecified injury)

Keith Lee (undisclosed injury)

Kenny Omega (diverticulitis)

Killswitch (double pneumonia)

Leyla Hirsch (elbow - dislocation)

Mark Davis (left arm - wrist fracture)

Matt Sydal (right foot - malunion fractures)

MJF (filming Happy Gilmore 2)

Nick Comoroto (hip resurfacing)

Riho (work visa delays)

Ruby Soho (pregnant)

Samoa Joe (filming Twisted Metal season 2)

Saraya (storyline - "incapacitated")

Skye Blue (right ankle - fracture)

The Blade (lower back - herniated disc)

Trent Beretta (neck - hardware removal surgery)

Wardlow (knee - unspecified injury)

I haven't heard any significant updates on any of these wrestlers. Lately it seems like a report will come out that so-and-so is medically cleared, and then so-and-so still sits in the twilight zone for months before they come back. So even if there was news I don't think it would help us estimate when a wrestler will return to the ring.