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“Wins and Losses Matter.”
This straightforward four-word slogan, spoken by EVP Cody Rhodes at the initial AEW press conference in January 2019, quickly became the maxim and driving force for my interest in All Elite Wrestling. In the two-plus years and more than 2000 matches since, this has held up as true to varying degrees.
About ten months ago I began developing a system that set out to prove or disprove the above guiding principle because it became clear from anyone who has sat through an entire episode of Dark with 15+ matches that not all wins and losses matter equally; the result of my efforts is AEW Metrics.
This partial screenshot shows the Men's Roster Page and several of the data I track on an ongoing basis.
So what are the metrics to be considered?
First, it is essential to realize, the quality of each win changes over time. While defeating a winless opponent initially earns 0 points, once the defeated wrestler has won matches, points are consequently earned by whoever defeated him/her. Consider the very first Singles match in company history: Kip Sabian defeated Sammy Guevara, who obviously became 0-1 as a result. At the time, Sabian earned 0 points, but Guevara is now 18-13 (.581), which makes the victory presently worth 5.81 Quality Points. [The equation to calculate this is the number of unique defeated opponents multiplied by their combined winning percentage.] This allows us to count multi-way and gimmick matches in which a singular opponent is not always defeated directly and also discounts repeated victories over the same opponent.
Next, Battle Royal(e)s (while having no bearing on any win-loss record) are counted in that the winners receive prestige. Consider Ruby Soho’s instant number-one ranking status following her victory at All Out. As such, I give all Battle Royal winners 10 points and all participants receive 1 point per elimination even when not officially in the match or when multiple wrestlers eliminate the same individual. As such, Soho netted 11 Battle Royal Points for the aforementioned win; further, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson each earned 1 point for their elimination of Isiah Kassidy in the Tag Team #1 Contendership Battle Royal at Beach Break.
The Official Rankings, a debatable topic amongst ardent fans, have been taken into account as Ranking Points. A simple calculation is made, giving 5 points for #1 and down to 1 point for #5.
Champions earn Championship Points through a combination of the title reign length and title defenses: 1 point per day and 5 points for each defense. Importantly, while every title defense in an AEW match counts towards this total, days are only counted for the four-official AEW-sanctioned championships. Sorry, FTW fans. Other factors, collectively called Elite Points, are also given either positive or negative values including the event, card placement, winning or losing streaks, eliminations in multi-fall matches, fall differential as well as additional points assigned for No DQ and Tournament matches
All of these points are totaled together and the sum of this is simply referred to as Combined Metrics Example: For his victory over Darby Allin in his debut, CM Punk earned 13.60 Combined Metrics, calculated as follows: 7.60 Quality Points - Darby Allin’s winning percentage - 0.760 - multiplied by 10 + 6 Elite Points - 3 points for a PPV Win - 1 point each for winning a mid-card match, having a one-match winning streak and having a fall differential being of +1
Current Top 10 Standings
Men’s Roster > Updated Following Rampage #7 – September 24, 2021
Women’s Roster > Updated Following Rampage #7 – September 24, 2021
Anyone with questions or comments is encouraged to respond here or on Twitter @AEWmetrics.