In January 2024, Tony Khan brought back the AEW rankings after they had stopped in 2022. Rankings were a big part of AEW when the company started in 2019 with records often being referenced on television.
The rankings only lasted a couple of months, and were dropped in April.
Speaking to Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, AEW's Wrestling Administrative Coordinator, Will Washington, explained that the rankings were used as a storytelling device for Samoa Joe, who was the AEW World Champion at the time.
"Joe established that he wanted to see competition in crowning a World Championship contender. He said it, 'Bring your record.' That was the catalyst -- I see a lot of people who bring up the rankings all the time. We brought the rankings back and people are like, 'What happened to the rankings?' That was a storytelling device. That was a storytelling device for Samoa Joe, for what Joe had literally said. 'I want competition-based contenders. You are not just going to get a shot at my World Championship. You're not going to demand it. You're going to earn it and you're going to climb the rankings to earn it.' That led to a number of guys; HOOK had the best record and it led to him being the number one contender. Swerve and Hangman had the exact same record, and they kept flip-flopping one and two until they tied and had the draw. In order to get to Samoa Joe, he demanded competition from his contenders and he demanded that you climb the ranks to get to him. When people ask, 'What was that about? Why were they brought back?' What was the point. It was for Joe. That's what it was about and that was the type of champion Samoa Joe represented," said Will.
That settles that.
Joe's reign lasted from AEW Worlds End 2023 to AEW Dynasty when he lost to Swerve Strickland.
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