Forget Game 7 of the World Series or Ben Simmons choking out Karl-Anthony Towns. It's time for the AEW Power Rankings (only on Fightful) are here to help you make sense of everything you saw on Dynamite.
Here's how it works; I rank anything and everything from the past week of AEW Dynamite, giving what I liked a low number and what I didn't like a higher number. The numbers are fairly arbitrary, but an explanation accompanies each ranking. Because AEW won't use the same talent every week, you won't see the same people, places, or things ranked every week. If you don't see something ranked, feel free to ask me on social media (@jeremylambert88) where it would fall. I will use a random number generator and reply ASAP.
If you missed anything from AEW Dynamite, check out Fightful's full report on the show. You can also catch up on where things stand with last week's Power Rankings.
AEW Power Rankings - Week Six
1. SCU
SCUUUUUU. The new AEW Tag Team Champions get the top spot. Scorpio Sky made himself a star over the past few weeks filling in for Christopher Daniels. Them winning the titles is the right call as they are an over act and you can place them anywhere on the card knowing that the crowd is going to give them a strong reaction.
2. Very WCW
This is not a bad thing. There were the obvious callbacks to WCW with the Halloween Havoc intro and The Inner Circle attacking Dustin Rhodes and breaking his arm (shades of The Horsemen breaking Dusty's arm). But I'm more talking about how the angle was shot. It came off realistic as it was dark and didn't feel like part of the show, even though it obviously was. Same goes for Santana & Ortiz attacking Rock N Roll Express and The Young Bucks. All those tricks were out of the Nitro playbook.
3. Orange Cassidy
Yup.
4. Jon Moxley Getting A Mic
Finally, Moxley is spending time with the mic. It took AEW long enough to give the man a mic, but he delivered on the stick. My favorite part of the promo was how realistic it came off. Moxley stumbled a bit, repeated some lines, and cursed to get his thoughts together -- all tricks low-level podcasters like myself use -- but that's what made it good to me. This wasn't a guy reciting memorized lines. This was a guy speaking his mind and selling a fight.
5. The Rock N Roll Express
God bless these men. Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson could have collected an easy paycheck by presenting the AEW Tag Team Titles following the main event. Instead, they decided to take a stage bump and help get Santana & Ortiz over even more. It's 2019 and Morton & Gibson have dominated wrestling. Some company should put the titles on them.
8. Hikura Shida
Shida picked up a nice win and got over in front of a crowd that had no reason to care coming into the match. She's great. Is she facing Riho at the pay-per-view? Do we know who is facing Riho?
9. Hager Effect
This was an easy decision to make, having Hager knee someone in the balls following his Bellator fight. But sometimes the best moments are the obvious ones. Hager should knee someone in the balls on every show.
13. Chris S. Pumpkins
Any questions?
22. Cowboy Shit
The Young Bucks will be hawking this shirt on the next episode of Being The Elite. With the death of Hunter Horse Helmsley, Hangman is gonna need Horse Hogan to do some Cowboy Shit.
26. Tony Schiavone
Can we appreciate how good Tony Schiavone is in AEW? I liked Schiavone during WCW's peak, but it was obvious that he didn't care by the end of the run. He was good in MLW, but he seems reinvigorated in AEW. He gets to work with his good friend Cody and is put in a position to succeed with the studio show and interview segments.
31. Jericho's Cigar
Brilliant slap in the face to cigar aficionado Cody. Just missed lighting the cigar with Khan's money.
37. Jim Ross' Lowered Mic
Either his mic was lower during the Orange Cassidy segment or the crowd drowned him out. Doesn't matter which one is true. It's a knock against Jim Ross either way.
43. Brandi Rhodes Being "A"
The video package was well done. I question Brandi Rhodes getting this kind of spot (is she facing Riho?) but I loved the video package. It gave me Pretty Little Liars feels. And I love me some Pretty Little Liars.
47. Vlogging Sammy Guevara
Everyone should be watching Sammy Guevara's vlogs. They are excellent. Looking forward to the footage of Dustin Rhodes getting punked.
50. Kenny Omega's Video Game Intro
This mainly confused me. I don't know if I loved it or hated it. I like video games, but could have lived without the NJPW and Kota Ibushi references. I'll explain more later. But this isn't lower because video games.
51. Small Package
A clever finish in the main event, but came off flat. The AEW crowd expects 500 finisher kickouts in the main event. So when a small package is the finish, it can come off cold. I like the finish because it was something different. Had the crowd given a strong reaction, this would have been higher. This ranking is your fault, West Virginia.
58. Jack Evans
He's not winning, which is why he's so low. But let's appreciate that Jack Evans is still going strong in 2019. Longtime fans will remember Jack Evans as the crazy guy who did 450 flips, 360 spins, double duck dip dodge dives off of cages onto concrete because no one would catch him. Now he's wrestling the same way but in neon colors instead of tank tops.
60. Tony Khan's Voice
A clever way to have an authority figure without having an authority figure. It's like the anonymous GM. Except good. Why is the ranking so low? Because we didn't get Tony Khan's awkward laugh.
69. Rick and Morty
I love Rick and Morty the show. But this crossover did nothing for me. Really, we just needed Mr. Meeseeks. It did give us Jim Ross begrudgingly saying "wubba dubba lub lub" and for that, you have to call it a win.
80. Kenny Omega's Split Personalities
Who is Kenny Omega? He's billed as an outstanding wrestler (he is), but I can't keep his character straight. On Being The Elite, he's someone who has lost his mind and gone on a bender. Then he's saving Riho from a beatdown. Next week, he's ready to kill Jon Moxley with a barbed wire broom. Now, he's a video game cosplayer once again. Just give me my twist ending M. Night Shyamalan.
87. Proud N Powerful
Nope. Not feeling this name. Still think "Blue Chew" would have been better.
88. Wrestling Sammy Guevara
Can my man Sammy get a victory?
100. Lights Out Matches
This is the third one AEW has done this year and I'm over it. Moxley is correct in saying it's done to protect win/loss records. Otherwise, they'd just do a No DQ match or Cracker Barrel Clash 2. Wins and losses matter unless AEW doesn't want someone taking an official loss. Then they won't sanction it.
