AEW released their latest rankings (May 27, 2020). Let’s check out the movers and shakers.
Men:
Congratulations to MJF. He is this week’s #1. MJF was unranked a week ago. Like he said, he would sit back atop his throne upon return to the ring. That’s exactly what happened. The rest of the rankings remain the same.
The new wrinkle is Cody Rhodes getting a champ slot as TNT title holder. It will be interesting to see how that affects future challengers. Does #1 get a choice? Will we have quicker shake-ups at #1 with double the title matches to mix things up? Is the TNT Championship not allowed to qualify through the rankings for a World Championship shot?
It will take some time to find out the answer. Jon Moxley’s next challenger will be Brian Cage at Fyter Fest (date to be determined). Cody will have his first defense on next week’s Dynamite against the winner of tonight’s battle royal.
Women:
Hikaru Shida is the new queen of the women’s division. She defeated Nyla Rose to win the Women’s Championship. As such, they flipped places in the rankings. Penelope Ford cracked the top 5 by bouncing out the inactive Riho.
I’m curious how the injury to Dr. Britt Baker DMD will affect her status at #3. I would think she would get the boot quickly, but the reality is that Big Swole is the only person available to replace her. Big Swole hasn’t wrestled in quite a long time. Perhaps Baker will return from her injury in the same 3 spot as when she left. That would not be a good look for the depth of the women’s division.
Tag Team:
The Best Friends remain in the top spot. They clinched a title shot against Hangman Page & Kenny Omega by defeating Private Party at the Double or Nothing pre-show. The Natural Nightmares came out of nowhere to rise to #2. Private Party stayed tight at #3. Dark Order continued to slide from #2 to #4 due to inactivity. The Young Bucks dropped a spot to fifth. The Jurassic Express pairing of Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus exited the top 5.
I’m all for mixing the rankings up, but the Natural Nightmares at #2 all of a sudden makes little sense. I guess strength of wins doesn’t mean squat. Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall feasted on the marshmallow teams of Peter Avalon & Shawn Spears, Jon Cruz & Matt Sells, 8 & 9, and Alex Reynolds & John Silver.
The Young Bucks still have favoritism on their side to be ranked. Jurassic Express should be ahead of the Bucks. Since the argument of meaningful wins is now out the window, Jurassic Express has a better record and have been more active than the Bucks recently.
Do you agree with AEW’s rankings this week? If not, what would you change?