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After a couple of months sabbatical, we're back as part of the new and improved AEW Power Rankings and in that time, the men's division of AEW has seen some interesting things happen.
Some new faces have turned up and some AEW wrestlers have been on a roll. So lets look at the who has been the most elite in the last two months in All Elite Wrestling.
#1- Hangman Page (Non Mover)
#2- CM Punk (Up 2)
After his victory against Adam Cole in a Texas Death Match on Good Friday, Hangman made his intentions clear with who he wanted to face next with his confrontation of CM Punk after his victory against Dustin Rhodes. His first words publicly after have caused a lot of debate in wrestling circles.
Is Page now wearing a "black hat"? Have his cowboys boots got some reinforced heels? The answer is more complicated than a write up on our Power Rankings. In my opinion, Hangman Page knows this match against CM Punk at Double or Nothing might be his toughest defence yet for many reasons.
He may not start favourite in the eyes of the bookmakers and maybe he doesn't start as crowd favourite amongst the AEW faithful in Las Vegas on Memorial Day Weekend so was Wednesday night a showing of a Page that is all business heading into the May PPV or a Hangman that has a siege mentality going into Double or Nothing?
That next head to head confrontation with be very interesting that is for sure
It feels a case of "finally" for Punk to get his shot at the AEW World Title. With just one loss on his AEW resume to MJF which he avenged, Punk's lack of inclusion in the Official AEW Rankings has been the subject of much mirth from the AEW fans and watchers of the Rankings. But now Chicago's finest is at No.1 and will head to Las Vegas as Adam's Page challenger after wins against Dax Harwood, Dustin Rhodes, Max Caster and Penta Oscuro.
The question now is what will happen at Double or Nothing? As mentioned in Page's entry on our rankings. Punk might start as favourite with the bookmakers and with the crowd but this is not Punk's first rodeo and he will know that he will face a determined and inspired Hangman Page that will do anything to prevent the one of the greatest comeback stories in pro wrestling history.
#3- Keith Lee (Up 6)
Racking up wins since Revolution, the most impressive one against Powerhouse Hobbs, Lee has adapted to All Elite life very well even with a loss on his record in the tag ranks after losing to the Team Taz duo of Hobbs and Ricky Starks alongside fellow former NXT alumni Swerve Strickland.
A surprise omission from the Owen Hart Cup, Keith will certainly try and make up for that by making an impact in the month of May and climbing the ranks to get a shot at AEW singles gold and make sure that we do not forget about Keith Lee.
#4- Samoa Joe (New Entrant)
The first big signing of Q2 in AEW, Joe has started off impeccably with wins over Max Caster (Fun fact- Max Caster has lost to No. 2-4 of our Rankings in the past 60 days) and winning the ROH Television Title and defending it beating Minoru Suzuki and Trent Beretta respectively
But Joe has encountered a personal issue with a face from his ROH past in former protegee Jay Lethal and his group including Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh. It's a distraction that Joe will not want in his quest to become the first winner of The Owen with his first round match against a "Joker" to be announced on the night of their match.
Joe's path to the Owen could be the toughest out of the eight participants involved but he could be the best person to win with his past resume what is hopefully going to be a fine AEW tradition.
#5- Wardlow (Down 2)
Surrounded by security as he makes his way to the ring with fans chanting his name with a finisher that is loved by fans. This feels very familiar.
But this is different from 1998 WCW and 1995 ECW. While Goldberg and 911 in their primes were terrific at one particular thing, they were one-dimensional to a massive fault. Wardlow though has shown sides to his game that will only hold him in good stead for the future from his interview with Tony Schiavone in which he knocked it out of the park in his first solo interview to showing an agility based offence in his wins against Lance Archer and W. Morrisey.
It looks set to be Wardlow facing MJF at Double or Nothing but with the proviso that Wardlow has to hurdle stipulations that MJF will lay out. Now that also feels very familiar.
#6- Darby Allin (Re-Entrant)
On the face of it it feels like a quiet couple of months for Darby but with a 4-1 record Darby has had a successful past 60 days with wins over AFO members The Butcher and Marq Quen and trading wins with Andrade with the Coffin Match win over the leader of AFO the feud ender.
Darby is one of three in our top ten that have qualified for the Elite Eight in The Owen Hart Cup with his victory over DEFY rival Shane Strickland seeing him progress to an intriguing match against Jeff Hardy.
With Adam Cole and Dax Hardwood making up the right half of the bracket, it is possibly the tough side of the draw but with Darby having pulled out victories with his back against the wall before, you wouldn't put it past Darby to add The Owen to his collection of achievements in AEW.
#7- Jon Moxley (Down 2)
#7- Bryan Danielson (Down 1)
While the betting is on for the two OG's of The Blackpool Combat Club to oppose the winners of Jurassic Express and Team Taz at Double or Nothing, their singles form has been flawless with both getting wins over their now BCC teammate Wheeler Yuta and Danielson beating Trent Beretta and Jon Moxley beating Jay Lethal.
While the emphasis for Mox and Danielson has been on tags and trios action with the BCC one of the favourites for Trios gold when the first champions will be crowned, Mox's placement in the AEW Rankings makes him a tricky out for either Hangman or Punk if Jon ends up in the opposite corner from either later in the year.
#9- Scorpio Sky (New Entrant)
The TNT Title picture has been as enjoyable to watch as watching Thor 2 with Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti being the most unlikable couple since Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt and the constant title changes stunting the enjoyment of what was a popular division in 2020 and 2021. But with Sky winning what looks like the feud ender against Sammy, it looks like a rosier path for the TNT Title. Well, after the Scorpio vs Frankie Kazarian match.
No offence to Kaz but while the story implications of the match might be interesting (more on this later) Frankie has never won a singles match on Dynamite with his two signature wins on the YouTube shows being against Alan Angels and Brandon Cutler.
But the story of the match with the first ever AEW Tag Champions facing off and Sky's early part of his second TNT Title run running on the story of the potential fracture between him and his tag partner Ethan Page as evidenced on Rampage hopefully means that the TNT Title might get more entertaining in the next few months.
#10- Adam Cole (Non mover)
After his pair of losses to Hangman Page, Cole's Road to Vegas will go through The Owen Hart Cup after his win over NJPW star Tomohiro Ishii. His quarter-final match vs Dax Harwood might end up resembling a physical debate about who was better, Bret or Shawn but a win over Dax will set up a semi-final match against either Jeff Hardy or Darby Allin.
Many people have Adam Cole as the favourite to win the inaugural Owen and such a accomplishment might be his biggest in his career but then eyes will divert to the relationship between Adam, reDRagon and The Young Bucks and while the Undisputed Elite combined to have a dominant win over Dante Martin, Brock Anderson, Lee Johnson and The Varsity Blonds, you just have the feeling that the bloom will come off the rose sooner rather than later just in time for a return of Kenny Omega.