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We are in one of those rare times this year where there isn't a recent AEW PPV to shake things up, but it is time to see where factions stand. Next month we'll be recapping things in the post All In/All Out landscape so consider this entry the calm before the late summer storm.
On Hold
Death Triangle- What a frustrating history it's been with Death Triangle. As a fan of all three members I was so excited when they formed a team. Their history has been filled with starts and stops so many times that for this installment I couldn't muster up too much enthusiasm. My lack of engagement was warranted as after their trios title shot at Double or Nothing, they pretty much haven't shared the TV screen since. Their latest match as a trios was at a recent CMLL show down in Mexico.
Mone Corporation- Mercedes Mone hinted that she was building towards some kind of group. She already has Kamille on her side, we'll just have to wait and see who else joins the CEO.
The Rankings
#18 Iron Savages (NEW)- Sure they have no wins but it is nice to have a new team at the bottom of the rankings. Strength: 0%
#17 Triple J (Up 1 spot)- Satnam Singh hasn't contributed any wins lately and with Jarrett going up against Danielson next week, I doubt he will either. I'm enjoying this late career face run from Jarrett though. Strength: 11.7%
#16 Premier Athletes (Down 3 spots)- In the landscape of AEW you need teams like the Premier Athletes that are there to insult whatever town they're in that night and lose to the babyfaces. Strength: 13.3%
#15 Outcasts (Up 1 spot)- Harley Cameron is such a fun TV personality and her matches are perfectly serviceable. Zak Knight hasn't been on TV much but I'm sure he'll be at Saraya's side at Wembley. Strength: 14.8%
#14 Top Flight (No Change)- On the flip (ha!) side of the Premier Athletes we have Top Flight. There to be plucky underdogs and give the heels some wins on their way to bigger things. One positive of late is the inclusion of Leila Grey to the crew. It'd will be even better if she can get some wins as she's 0-4 for the year.
Strength: 21.6%
#13 Cage of Agony (Down 1 spot)- Haven't seen much of Toa and Bishop lately which is a shame as those guys are great. Strength: 38.8%
#12 Shane Taylor Productions (Up 3 spots)- Things were looking so good with Lee Moriarty winning the ROH Pure title. Then Taylor gets injured and Anthony Ogogo continues his sporadic appearances (hopefully this changes with the AEW England tour).
Strength: 22.9%
Championships: ROH Pure (Lee Moriarty)
#11 Callis Family (Down 7 spots)- Things are looking really shaky for the Callis Family as Hobbs and Trent are both out with injuries, while Fletcher lost the ROH TV title. Luckily they have Konosuke Takeshita who had a great showing at this year's G1 tournament. Fletcher, despite losing the group's only championship, is looking strong going into his match with MJF next week. Fletcher and Takeshita are the future of AEW, Fletcher already had some singles gold in ROH, before the year is out I hope Takeshita can be a champion as well. My pick for Takeshita would be for him to take the Continental Crown at the end of the year.
Strength: 55.6%
#10 Learning Tree (Down 1 spot)- Let's give Jericho and the Learning Tree a nice golf clap followed by an exasperated sigh. Strength: 54.5%
Championships: FTR Title (Chris Jericho)
#9 Undisputed Kingdom (Down 4 spots)- What are we even doing with this group anymore? Something, anything, needs to happen. Pull the trigger on Wardlow/Cole, have Strong take over the group, or disband entirely. Anything! Strength: 57.4%
Championships: ROH Tag (Taven & Bennett)
#8 Conglomeration (NEW) The newest and (arguably) most popular group in AEW right now. Take a bunch of babyfaces, throw them together, sprinkle on some Mark Briscoe promos and you've got a fun group. The team's lower win percentage is keeping them low on this list, despite the ROH title belt.
Strength: 60.2%
Championships: ROH World Title (Mark Briscoe)
#7 Acclaimed (Up 1 spot)- It's doubtful that the Acclaimed will ever reach their previous heights from a year ago, but a feud with the MxM Collection could at least be fun. Just spitballing ideas here.
Strength: 70.6%
#6 Joe-Gun Warriors (No Change)- The momentum of this team has stalled as Joe is off filming a new season of Twisted Metal, Hook is off spending time with his new girlfriend, while Shibata helps out the Von Erich family.
Strength: 72.5%
#5 House of Black (Up 2 spots)- I gave HoB the edge over JoeGun Warriors simply based on momentum (even though their win/loss records are the same at 37-14). Buddy Murphy re-signed with AEW which is nice, but where's my Brody King singles run? The man should be running roughshod over the AEW midcard. At least House of Black is getting a trios opportunity at All In by the sounds of things.
Strength: 72.5%
#4 Bang Bang Gang (Down 2 spots)- I hope that the BBG don't spin their wheels waiting for Jay White to get healthy. They could at least go on a ROH excursion for a bit. We just got Juice Robinson back, it'd be a shame not to use him. Strength: 77.3%
#3 Blackpool Combat Club (No Change)- I take cohesion into account when I rank the factions and the BCC were dangerously close to having one of the lowest scores on this list due to simply not sharing TV time enough. Moxley is on (a well deserved) vacation and something's up with Claudio that I can't place my finger on. The saving grace in the team's unity was the video package showing Yuta training with Danielson ahead of Danielson's All In championship match. It doesn't take much, but the audience has to see things like this to buy into a faction.
Strength: 79.0%
#2 Patriarchy (Up 8 spots)- I want Shane McMahon to appear in AEW just for Christian Cage to confront him. As for the Patriarchy, this is the highest they've ever gotten in these rankings, up a tremendous eight spots from last month. Despite having the fewest matches of the top fifteen factions, they've won Trios gold and are still a hot act. It's not the number of minutes you get in show business that matter, it's what you do with the time you have. The slow build of Killswitch getting fed up with Christian continues and I do expect the former Luchasaurus to walk away from the group sometime soon.
Strength: 61.9%
Championships: AEW Trios (Christian Cage, Nick Wayne, Mother Wayne)
#1 The Elite (No Change)- Despite losing Blood and Guts, the Elite are still covered in gold and looking strong heading into this summer's PPVs. I do imagine at least one title will slip from their grasp by All Out, but it's hard to say who's going to fumble their championship away.
Strength: 76.5%
Championships: TNT Title (Jack Perry), AEW Tag (Young Bucks), Continental Crown (Okada)
Most teams are averaging out towards the center at this point in the year. The big exeption are the Premier Athletes who came in with a smattering of wins last month, only to lose repeatedly after that. Bang Bang Gang are trending down after such a strong start to the year, while the Learning Tree is moving up. Iron Savages make their debut as the lone 0% club.
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