This week’s AEW Power Rankings feature champions on top and a closer look at who is on the rise in the men’s, women’s and tag team divisions.
Happy New Year everybody! With a new year comes a new season for AEW. Win-loss records were wiped clean; career rankings will stay the same. The last AEW show was Dark on December 23, 2019, but that doesn’t factor into the new rankings for obvious reasons. The last Dynamite of 2019 took place on December 18. You can see the final rankings of 2019 here.
The new season kicked off on the first day of 2020 with Dynamite live from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL. This is the site of last July’s Fight for the Fallen gun violence charity show. AEW fans were treated to a rematch that ended in a draw last year, a Women’s Championship match and Chris Jericho still trying to recruit Jon Moxley to join his Inner Circle.
With that, here are the rankings for the first week in January.
Men’s Division
No. 1 — Chris Jericho
AEW’s youngest world champion wants Jon Moxley to join the Inner Circle so badly that he offered him a 49 percent share Inner Circle, LLC. To sweeten the deal, Jericho threw in a sweet Ford GT with a personalized “MOX” vanity plate.
No. 2 — Jon Moxley
Not only is Mox highly sought after by the champ, but he’s also next in line for a shot at said champion as he leads the men’s rankings. He improved his title shot chances by beating Trent. Like Jericho, “The Purveyor of Violence” is wrestling at NJPW’s prestigious Wrestle Kingdom 14 this weekend. Moxley is expected to give Jericho his answer about joining him next week.
No. 3 — Cody
At the end of the previous year, Cody announced that Four Horseman member Arn Anderson would be his personal advisor and head coach. Cody wants to dominate the current season and thinks Anderson can help him accomplish that. He kicked off Dynamite with a rematch against Darby Allin that ended up as a draw at Fyter Fest. Anderson’s guidance paid off when he instructed Cody to pick up his legs when Allin was jumping from the top rope, which led him to a roll up victory.
No. 4— Sammy Guevara
Inner Circle was in action when Sammy Guevara took on Dustin Rhodes. The “Spanish God” showed off fiery offense with a senton off the apron. Rhodes proved to be a formidable foe and Inner Circle member Jake Hager got involved and helped Guevara secure his first victory of the year.
No. 5 — MJF
Maxwell Jacob Friedman didn’t have a match, but had access to a live mic. Accompanied by WARDLOW, MJF laid out his stipulations in order to accept a match against Cody at REVOLUTION. These stipulations are that Cody can’t touch him before the big show, Cody has to beat WARDLOW in a steel cage match and Cody has to allow MJF to whip him ten times with a leather belt.
No. 6 — Dustin Rhodes
The oldest Rhodes brother became the first person to wrestle in five different decades with his match on Wednesday. While he didn’t pick up the win, he hit an impressive Canadian Destroyer on the apron!
No. 7 — TRENT
Although he’s one half of Best Friends, TRENT has had his share of singles matches in AEW. His latest match was against Moxley. After being slapped in the face, he unleashed a flurry of chops to Mox. After spearing his opponent, he dropped Mox on his head with a half-and-half suplex. Orange Cassidy distracted Moxley enough for TRENT to hit a running knee and pile driver, but it wasn’t enough to get a win.
No. 8 — Darby Allin
On the last Dynamite of 2018, Allin teamed with Cody against The Butcher and The Blade. If they were victorious, Allin would get his rematch against Cody. Allin went for the Coffin Drop early, but it wasn’t enough. Allin pulled off the padding of the top turnbuckle out of frustration. Cody kept coming at Allin hard, but couldn’t quite put Allin away until Anderson got involved. Darby nearly came away with the victory.
No. 9— PAC
PAC joined with the Lucha Bros. against The Elite in Dynamite’s main event. PAC had been taunting Kenny Omega at the end of last year. PAC interfered with Omega when he was on the sidelines throughout the match. Omega and PAC finally got into the ring together and the crowd was buzzing. They both used the Snapdragon on each other. PAC went for The Brutalizer on Omega when Matt Jackson blindsided PAC with a kick. PAC and the Lucha Bros. didn’t get the win, but it’s only a matter of time before PAC gets his hands on Omega again.
No. 10 — Orange Cassidy
Cassidy tried his best to help TRENT win his match. Not only did he try to help his friend, but he teased the AEW crowd with a match that many fans want: Cassidy vs. Moxley.
Honorable mention: I don’t usually do these, but Joey Janela should be mentioned. He didn’t have a match, but during a backstage interview with Alex Marvez, he was low blowed by former real-life girlfriend, Penelope Ford. This resulted into a Twitter exchange between the two, along with Ford’s current real life boyfriend, Kip Sabian. This could turn into a good feud.