2020 AEW Power Rankings: Year-End Edition
It’s Wednesday Night, You Know What That Means. Tonight, is AEW Dynamite night and they’re honoring the life of Jon Huber, otherwise known as Brodie Lee after his unexpected and tragic passing this weekend. I always thought he was one of the most underrated performers in the wrestling business and it would’ve been great to see him with a major belt, but he clearly made an impact on those working with him. I haven’t heard anybody say one bad thing about him, only great and bittersweet stories. Before you watch what should be an awesome Dynamite, here are my Year-End Power Rankings for AEW. This is my first full year doing the rankings for AEW and if you want to see how the first half unfolded, here it is. While things change quite a bit over the course of 6 months, things didn’t change nearly as much as I expected in AEW. Most of the guys that were at the top in the first half were still dominate in the second half of the year. It has been a great year for AEW and hopefully 2021 will be an even better year for the promotion
2nd Half Performer of the Year: Chris Jericho (15 Appearances; 3 Number Ones)
AEW
This was a little bit of a shock to me. Jericho has been featured a lot, but hasn’t held the AEW Championship since February or even been in a title match since then. He has been featured nearly every week as I look back and has a 12-3 record in the 2nd Half including tag matches. Before I counted, I assumed it would be Kenny Omega or Cody Rhodes or possibly, Jon Moxley, but I gotta be honest, Jericho wasn’t on my short list. Good for him though, the Demo God has earned it.
Mr. Consistency: Orange Cassidy (9 Appearances Each in the 1st and 2nd Half)
AEW
Freshly Squeezed and cool as a cucumber, Orange Cassidy is this year’s Mr. Consistency Award winner. I reserve this award for performer’s that aren’t considered favorites to be in the featured Year-End Power Rankings, but he was certainly a lot closer than I expected. OC has quickly become a fan favorite and when fans start entering arenas at full force again, expect him to still be one of the most beloved performers.
Miss Consistency: Hikaru Shida (7 Appearances Each in the 1st and 2nd Half)
AEW
There’s no doubt about it, no female performer in AEW has been more consistent than Hikaru Shida in 2020. The Women’s Champ has held the belt for over 7 months and I don’t really see her dropping it any time soon. From the very beginning of AEW, Shida stood out to me in the early stages and I felt like she could be someone who could lead the entire women’s division. She has done that and then some. Congrats to Shida and I wish her success in the coming year.
Where Did You Go Award?: Matt Hardy (6, 1st Half Appearances; 1, 2nd Half Appearance) and Nyla Rose (5, 1st Half Appearances; 0, 2nd Half Appearances)
AEW
This honor speaks for itself. This award simply goes to (a) performer(s) that appeared to be strong in the first half of the year, but didn’t maintain that momentum in the second half. Matt Hardy appeared to be poised for some big feuds going into the second half, but injuries and setbacks halted all of that momentum. Since then, he has been featured with Private Party as a mentor, but has only teamed up with them once, which happened to be his only appearance in the Rankings.
AEW
Nyla Rose was the Women’s champion for 101 days, but lost it in May to Hikaru Shida. Ever since, Nyla has done virtually nothing. The former champ has been featured a little, but only in squash matches and AEW Dark matches. Rose lost at Full Gear to Shida in November, but hasn’t been on Dynamite since the loss. Vickie Guerrero is now Nyla’s manager, so that could be an encouraging sign for fans of the Native Beast, but I don’t really see things getting better for Nyla moving forward. They know that the former champ could be inserted back into the title picture at a moment’s notice, but I don’t see them doing that for a little while, at least until some of the injured performers in the women’s division return.
Just Missed the Cut:
Here are some performers that were great in 2020, but just missed out on the Top 5 Year-End Power Rankings
20 Appearances: Hangman Page
18 Appearances: Orange Cassidy
16 Appearances: The Young Bucks
14 Appearances: Hikaru Shida
11 Appearances: FTR
10 Appearances: Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager
2020 AEW POWER RANKINGS TOP 5
- 5: MJF (21 Appearances; 2 Number Ones)
AEW
If you would’ve asked me in January who I thought would be in the Top 5 for the upcoming year, I would’ve said that MJF could be one of those guys that could either be at the top or at the bottom of the Top 5, but a lock nonetheless. He wasn’t exactly a lock, but he made it. He didn’t make the Top 5 in the first half, but his performances in the second half propelled him to the 5 spot. He had a big feud with Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho for the better part of the second half and he even joined The Inner Circle. He is a back-to-back Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal winner and was even featured, along with Chris Jericho, in a New York Times article covering the “Best Performances of 2020”. MJF seems poised for a massively successful 2021 and don’t be surprised if he tops the rankings next year.
- 4: Jon Moxley (24 Appearances; 14 Number Ones)
AEW
I was surprised to see Moxley at 4. I thought he was a lock for the Top 3, but he just missed it. Moxley had an astounding 14 Number One appearances and 10 of those came in the second half, which is even more unbelievable. Moxley has been the best champion in AEW history and even though some may disagree with that statement, his numbers and match performances back it up. Moxley belongs in the main event and I really can’t see him doing anything other than competing for or defending the AEW Championship at this point. He is a guy that you can build a whole promotion around and I feel like they did just that in AEW’s early stages. It appears that Moxley is going to be a father in 2021 and he may decide to take a little time off, but when he comes back, expect big things from him.
AEW
- 3: Chris Jericho (25 Appearances; 7 Number Ones)
AEW
Whether he is wrestling or not, Chris Jericho makes an impact when he appears. I mentioned earlier that I was a little shocked to see him make the most appearances in the second half, but when you think of the magnitude of his character, it really isn’t all that surprising. Jericho’s two biggest feuds in the second half were against Orange Cassidy and MJF, but the one that benefitted the most from it was definitely Orange Cassidy. He made OC an absolute star and that was the goal. Hopefully Jericho has many more tricks up his sleeve and makes more young or lesser known talents stars in the near future. For now though, expect him to be the fearless leader of the chaotic Inner Circle.
- 2: Kenny Omega (28 Appearances; 11 Number Ones)
AEW
Omega was my first guess for MVP of 2020, but he came up just short. In the first half of the year, he tied for the lead and won the tiebreaker, but surprisingly enough, ended up third in the second half. Omega is the current AEW World Champion and has even appeared on Impact Wrestling a couple times in a little cross-promotion wrestling. In the last couple of months, Omega has been the biggest performer for AEW and it doesn’t look like he will slow down anytime soon. The difference for Omega is the fact that he was primarily a tag team performer in the first half, but has transitioned into a singles star for the second half after he and Hangman Page dropped the titles in September. Since then, Omega hasn’t lost a match and I don’t expect him to for quite a while. He has been called the best performer in the world and we are seeing that on full display at the moment.
- 1: Cody Rhodes (29 Appearances; 2 Number Ones)
AEW
Cody Rhodes is your 2020 AEW MVP. He beat Omega out by 1 appearance and he has earned it. I knew it was going to come down to either Omega or Cody, but I’m a little surprised to see Omega not be number one. Rhodes has been the ultimate workhorse for AEW and despite not really having a notable feud in the second half, he has been very important. His most notable feud was against Brodie Lee and The Dark Order. He has been the bearer of the TNT Championship on 2 occasions, but lost it to Darby Allin in November. As long as Cody is competing, expect him to be near the top regardless if he is winning or losing. He has helped build this brand into what it has and will become. It appears that we may actually see a match between he and Sting in 2021, so that is something to potentially get excited about in the coming months. I think Brodie Lee’s last tweet explains quite a bit about Cody, so this is what I will end this article with.
Yacs