The short history of AEW has all four titles having important moments with various degrees of success for the champions. AEW initially only introduced the AEW World Championship before the television deal started. The Women’s Championship and Tag Team Championship were then introduced in the early stages of Dynamite with champions crowned.
RELATED: 10 Wrestlers Who Have Worked For AEW, TNA, & WWE
AEW added the TNT Championship in mid-2020 to have another male singles title to act as the company's mid-card title. Each of the 10 champions so far have done their best to make an impact in the early stages of holding a new belt. However, not all title reigns are created equal as the best will be ranked above the others when looking back at all AEW champions so far.
12 The Young Bucks (AEW World Tag Team Champions)
Many fans have regarded The Young Bucks as the best tag team in wrestling for the better part of the past decade. Matt and Nick Jackson finding massive success in Ring of Honor and New Japan played a huge role in AEW forming.
RELATED: 5 Current WWE Stars That Need A Gimmick Change (& 5 In AEW)
The duo tried to stay away from the tag titles in the company’s first year, but they finally won the gold at Full Gear. Matt and Nick defeated FTR in an impressive match to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Time will tell how the reign goes, but it is off to a great start.
11 Darby Allin (TNT Champion)
The rivalry between Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin has seen the younger star making his name in AEW. Cody recently shared the real story of being the one who recruited Darby to AEW ahead of their match for the TNT Championship.
Allin defeated Rhodes for the first time in four tries to win his first title in AEW. The fans loved the moment and it set up a huge reign for Darby to establish himself. It is impossible to find a better start to a title reign than Allin did at Full Gear.
10 SCU (AEW World Tag Team Champions)
The trio of Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky all found success together as SCU in Ring of Honor. AEW signed them as one of the first acts when scouting talent to create the initial roster in its inception.
SCU would get a noteworthy push to start when winning the tournament to become the first AEW World Tag Team Champions. Kazarian and Sky had a solid run, but nothing was that special as they had a relatively short reign compared to others.
9 Nyla Rose (AEW Women's World Champion)
The dominant heel character of Nyla Rose allowed her to make an impact with a few destructive performances in the early months. Rose would lose in the finals to crown the first AEW Women’s World Champion before getting her win back over Riho.
The title reign for Nyla was short and didn’t feature many programs on television. AEW didn’t do the best job establishing Rose’s character during the title reign. Nyla still made her best mark whenever given the chance to get her presence across.
8 Brodie Lee (TNT Champion)
Brodie Lee had a short run as TNT Champion, but he did have a few memorable moments. The dominant win for Lee over Cody Rhodes shocked everyone in just how easily he was able to destroy an AEW main eventer for the new title as he erased his weak WWE ending.
AEW struggled to get The Dark Order over in the early stages of the company, but Brodie did his best to make them relevant. This moment was the crowning achievement with The Dark Order destroying Cody’s Nightmare Family. Lee held the title for a short while before dropping it back to Cody in a Dog Collar match.
7 FTR (AEW World Tag Team Champions)
The AEW Tag Team Championship is more important than most tag titles in wrestling given how deep the tag division is. Many of the best teams in the world wrestle for AEW, which played a huge role in FTR wanting to join after their WWE departure.
Tully Blanchard becoming the manager of FTR gave them a missing piece to add to their act. The tag title run is relatively new with FTR still looking to create a legacy with the gold. AEW has booked them as strong heels having dominant wins over face competitors.
6 Hikaru Shida (AEW Women's World Champion)
AEW scouted to find many of the top female wrestlers in the world with many coming over from Japan to start it off. Hikaru Shida was an instant standout having great matches and looking like one of the most talented all-around performers in the division.
The AEW Women’s Championship win for Shida saw her pulling off the upset over Nyla Rose. Fans have criticized AEW for not putting Shida on television enough, but she does make the most of her appearances. Shida’s title reign is going well with room for improvement from the booking.
5 Cody Rhodes (TNT Champion)
The choice of Cody Rhodes to be the first-ever TNT Champion made perfect sense. Cody is currently banned from ever getting another AEW World Championship title shot after losing to Chris Jericho, and this gave him an ideal goal to reach.
RELATED: 10 WWE Legends That AEW Should Sign Next
The name value and star power of Cody added to the instant credibility of the belt. Cody defended the title against unsigned talents like Eddie Kingston, Ricky Starks, and Warhorse in impressive matches. The loss to Brodie Lee saw Cody winning it back in his eventual rematch and continuing to do great things with the belt.
4 Riho (AEW Women's World Champion)
Riho was relatively unknown to the American wrestling audience when AEW started. The smaller size and likeable persona of Riho made her the ideal underdog to book in a way where fans easily gravitated towards her as an underdog.
Riho becoming the first-ever AEW Women’s Champion was among the best moments for the company so far. The title reign was the most impressive for any of the women so far with fans wanting to see her back soon. Riho has been missing since the travel restrictions were put in place leaving her in Japan.
3 Chris Jericho (AEW World Champion)
AEW strategically picked Chris Jericho to become the first AEW World Champion before the company started the television show. Jericho was easily the biggest name with the crossover appeal to have casual fans give the product a chance.
The title reign of Jericho lasted about five months before he dropped it to move out of the title picture. Jericho had great programs with Jon Moxley, Cody Rhodes, Darby Allin, Scorpio Sky, and a few others. The title run helped established the AEW World Championship as a top prize in the industry,
2 Kenny Omega & Adam Page (AEW World Tag Team Champions)
The Jericho Cruise featured a shocking title change when Kenny Omega and Adam Page defeated SCU to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Omega and Page were a new tag team that instantly found chemistry with superb matches.
Many fans and wrestlers believe that Omega and Page defending the titles against The Young Bucks was the greatest match in AEW’s short history. Omega and Page had great matches with all challengers before dropping it to FTR and heading into a singles program. The incredible reign ending created a new rivalry with Omega showing signs of a heel turn.
1 Jon Moxley (AEW World Champion)
Chris Jericho dropping the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley was a big move since it ended a successful reign. Moxley was the only wrestler constantly outdrawing Jericho when it came to television ratings and social media views.
The former WWE star was performing at a higher level than ever before with more creative freedom. Moxley has delivered great matches with Darby Allin, MJF, Eddie Kingston, Lance Archer, and many others. The title reign is still going with Moxley cementing his status as arguably the top star in the industry today.
