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Hello friends and welcome to the latest edition of the AEW Power Rankings and this week we concentrate on the Men's Singles Division of AEW.
After the annual February/March tradition of AEW Revolution, the landscape of All Elite Wrestling has changed and we at the AEW Power Rankings will do our best to bring clarity to what is a jam-packed Men's division.
#1- Hangman Page (Non mover)
Hangman would leave Revolution as still the AEW World Champion after beating Adam Cole in one of Cole's former stomping grounds and in the process went to a place that he hasn't been to since the formation of AEW. Should we be surprised? Well, there is a reason why he's called Hangman. Just look at his Wikipedia page.
So what next for Page? With CM Punk motioning his interest in challenging for the title and alliances potentially formed under the guidance of the former GM of Cole's former workplace, the bullseye that has been on Page's chest since his AEW World Title win at Full Gear has new wrestlers looking to take aim.
With discourse on social media talking about the quality of Hangman's first AEW World Title reign, there is no shadow of a doubt that should Page win matches against Punk and Moxley, he will go down as one of the great champions in modern times in North American wrestling.
#2- Sammy Guevara (Non mover)
While Sammy's first TNT Title reign was to be honest hot garbage, take two has been more than fine. Following his ladder match victory over Whatshisname, Guevara has beaten Andrade and former TNT champ Darby Allin in singles matches then beat the two same wrestlers in a triple threat match.
"The Spanish God" will have to face Scorpio Sky and Wardlow in the next few weeks in differing challenges but with it looking like Guevara has wrung himself free of the Jericho/Inner Circle drama, Guevara could be the furthest forward on the road to being the Ace of The Four Pillars of AEW.
#3- Wardlow (Re-entrant)
The conductor of the "Powerbomb Symphony" might have ran though quite a few of the AEW roster but Wardlow's inability to beat any of the top guns of AEW was a justifiable critique of someone who is fast becoming one of the companies most popular wrestlers. That changed at Revolution with Wardlow grabbing the brass ring ( or is it the "Sonic ring") in the Face of The Revolution Ladder Match.
With a TNT title shot in his future, the status of what happens next should he win the belt could be one for the contract lawyers going forward, Wardlow's actions at the end of the Punk vs MJF Dog Collar Chain Match could have laid out his future past a TNT Title Match and while it was Wardlow's "thumbs down moment", history has shown how vile MJF has been when his back has been against the wall.
#4- CM Punk (Down 1 place)
In a fortnight when it was announced that Ring of Honor was in new hands, one of the members of ROH's inaugural Hall of Fame class went back into his bag of tricks from his time there in his grudge match against MJF at Revolution. Albeit with a little help from Wardlow, Punk got the biggest win of the second part of his career so far and in the aftermath of his win, Punk motioned that he wanted a shot at the AEW World Championship.
We have seen people do deals with the devil to win "Pretty Platinum" and turn heel to get shots at the title and while Punk said on the go-home Dynamite that he is trying to be a better person, a sight at the AEW World Title could turn the multi time world champion into the "old Punk" that saw him at the top of the wrestling mountain a decade ago
#5- Jon Moxley (Up 2 places)
#6- Bryan Danielson (Re-entrant)
Well that a f****** great match wasn't it? The fifth ever match between the reigning Observer award winners for Best Brawler and Best Technical Wrestler (Ishii vs Sabre. Jr's 4 matches from 2017 to 2019 being the only other ones) lived to the hype that us wrestling nerds had given it even in front of a tired crowd after the Dog Collar Chain match. But the desert to the main course was even better.
WILLIAM REGAL IS ALL ELITE!!!!!!!!!!
The scenes after the match in which Lord Regal got his message across to Mox and Danielson and forced them to shake hands and to "sort this place out" brings so many intriguing scenarios going forward but a team of Moxley and Danielson has the potential to run rough shot over not only the singles division but the tag division too. Things are going to get violent very soon.
#7-Powerhouse Hobbs (New entrant)
After losing a couple of big matches in the final third of 2021, Hobbs has started 2022 on fire with wins over Dante Martin and Matt Sydal. A decent performance in the Revolution Ladder Match could be the next step for the Team Taz member as he looks to launch himself up the AEW rankings.
In a world that is seeing more giants on the AEW roster, Hobbs will need to live up to his nickname if he's to stand out from the pack.
#8- MJF (Re-entrant)
The past 5 weeks has taught us a lot about the Long Island resident as pertains to his AEW career. His victory over CM Punk in Chicago showed that Maxwell could win when his back is against the wall and in enemy territory and we also learned a lot of about MJF's history and what makes him tick. We would also learn about his viciousness in Jacksonville when he beat Punk to a bloody pulp.
However the loss to Punk even if it was thanks to Wardlow and his Diamond Ring has seen MJF go onto a record of 4-3 in PPV matches and while those 3 losses do come with asterisks it's still a mark against his record and will be a barrier to MJF getting another shot at the AEW World Title.
#9- Keith Lee (New Entrant)
After that debut and that beele, the fans of AEW would wonder what would happen next and despite an OK performance against JD Drake, Keith Lee would impress during the Revolution Ladder match throwing opponents around and bringing out the Godzilla spot which made him a name in NXT.
With many enemies from Team Taz made in the past couple of weeks, when the time comes for matches against Hobbs ands Ricky Starks, by the time those matches end neither man will forget about Keith Lee.
#10- Adam Cole (Down 4 places)
In a night of great matches, the battle of the Adams would have a been a contender for Match of the Month in any of the first two months of 2022 but it may not have been in the top three of the night at Revolution.
Watchers of Being The Elite would have seen a fracture emerge in the Superkliq when Cole called out his friends The Young Bucks for not being at ringside for the main event match. To be fair The Bucks do have previous for not joining an Elite teammate at ringside for their AEW World Title match. But the events after the title match could be the first sign of discontent in The Elite since their turn to the dark side 12 months ago and with Cole's friends from his stay in Orlando crossing swords with the Bucks which could potentially dominate AEW television in months after the PPV, things could get interesting when a certain former AEW champ returns from injury.