AEW’s best wrestlers rank with any other companies greatest stars in the world, and in this article we’ll explore who are the best wrestlers in AEW’s short but incredible history.
Since it’s creation in 2019, All Elite Wrestling has presented some of the best wrestling in the world. Founded by Tony Khan, he was joined by some of the best wrestlers in the world to help fight the battle against the WWE’s monopoly of professional wrestling.
The best wrestlers in AEW competed weekly on AEW Dynamite to fight off the challenge of NXT and have continued to pull millions of weekly viewers on national TV. They’ve singed huge WWE superstars and international wrestling legends en route to their success and the sky seems the limit for the up-and-coming promotion.
While they have amassed an incredible roster of talent, not of all them can be considered the greatest. In this article, we’ll rank the best AEW wrestlers in the companies history and what they did to help grow the company to new heights.
19. Adam Cole
After main eventing All In against his best friend MJF, its hard to not find a spot for Adam Cole on this list. He has the talent, the drive and the ability to become one of the biggest stars in AEW, and has proved just that every step of the way.
Cole was hugely hyped by AEW since signing for the company in 2021. He rejected a deal with the WWE, leaving NXT to sign for AEW and made his debut at the end of AEW All Out 2021 (along with another star we’ll talk about later).
Sadly, injuries have derailed his AEW career so far. He missed almost a year of action after suffering a concussion at Forbidden Door 2022, but since is return Adam Cole has staked his claim as one of the best wrestlers in AEW history, with bouts against MJF, Orange Cassidy and FTR exemplifying that.
18. The Lucha Brothers
There is nothing to choose between for these two brothers, as Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix have taken wrestling by storm since joining at the formation of AEW.
The two Mexican superstars were two of the top tag teams early on in AEW, amazing fans with their incredibly dangerous high-flying moves, exemplified clearly in their bouts against the Young Bucks.
They are two of the most talented wrestlers on the roster, but injuries and bad booking have ruined their chances to become even bigger stars than they now.
The Lucha Bros are former AEW Tag Team Champions, while Rey Fenix also holds the AEW International Championship, winning the belt from Jon Moxley at AEW Grand Slam 2023.
17. Jamie Hayter
The former AEW Women’s Champion quickly rose to the top of the AEW women’s division since her debut in the early years of the company.
She debuted on the fourth ever episode of AEW Dynamite, but spent time outside the company during the pandemic. Jamie Hayter then returned to the side of Britt Baker, before surpassing her in popularity and in-ring quality soon after.
With some of the best women’s matches in AEW history under her belt, the former AEW Women’s Champion is doing Britain proud as their greatest female wrestler, and has so much more to accomplish in AEW in the future.
16. Brodie Lee
While he could have been higher on this list, Brodie Lee‘s untimely death means he is relegated to the lower end of this list of All Elite Wrestling’s greatest pro-wrestlers. This is nothing to be ashamed of – he barely had a six month career with the company from his debut to his last match. If he had time to fulfil his lost potential, we could be looking at one of AEW’s best wrestlers ever.
He came into the company as the leader of the Dark Order and put on some fantastic matches against Jon Moxley, Cody Rhodes and Orange Cassidy. He won the TNT Championship from Cody in 2020 and wrestled his last match against him in the companies first dog collar match.
Sadly, he passed away on Boxing Day 2020 and missed out on an incredible career with AEW. If he were still alive there is no doubt we’d be talking about the Brodie Lee AEW Championship run. Brodie Lee is one of AEW’s best wrestlers because of what he did in his short time in the ring and how he had the aura of a top star.
15. Britt Baker
The woman who has had the most impact in AEW has to be Britt Baker. While others may have her beat inside the ring, nobody has the entire package of one of the best AEW wrestlers as the dentist-turned-pro-wrestler, Dr Britt Baker DMD. She is one of AEW’s best wrestlers because of how she became one of the most popular stars in the company despite being stuck in a lacklustre women’s division.
The former AEW Women’s Champion started out life as a bland babyface but soon turned into the top heel in the company. Fans loved to hate her and she quickly became one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster. Her feud with Thunder Rosa in particular elevated both women to main event status and made Britt Baker the biggest female star in the company.
Britt Baker is on the list of the best AEW wrestlers not just because of her actual wrestling ability, but as her ability as a whole. No woman in the company can match her in the ring, on the microphone and in knowing her own character perfectly. The future is bright for the already legendary Britt Baker.
14. Sting
Few people expected a 60 year old Sting to make such a splash in AEW as he did. He is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time and has wrestled in ever big promotion in the world over the past 30 years. Sting is one of AEW’s best ever wrestlers and also one of the all-time greats in wrestling as a whole. If he was younger and could work a full-time schedule I’m sure he could be an AEW Champion.
He debuted in AEW at Winter is Coming 2020 and aligned himself with Darby Allin. Their tag team allows Sting to shine, with him wrestling as good as he ever has been as the star of many tag team matches.
He’s rolled back the hands of time in this run and despite nearing the end of his career, he is enjoying every minute and putting on his best work as part of the All Elite Wrestling roster.
13. Darby Allin
From his first appearance in AEW, fans have known there is something special with Darby Allin. Over the years he has proven himself as one of the top wrestlers in the company because of his excellent matches and compelling stories.
One can not ignore how he puts his body on the line. In many matches he has done death-defying stunts that risk horrific injury. However, he does these for the adreniline rush and to pop the crowd, and has built a following over his crazy matches. Clearly taking inspiration from Jeff Hardy, he lives the straight-edge lifestyle which has stopped him suffering with the same addiction issues as Hardy has.
Since 2021 he has teamed with Sting, with the two men remaining undefeated in tag team matches in AEW.
12.PAC
After leaving WWE, it was clear the sky was the limit in AEW for PAC. As one of the worlds greatest high flyers, he combined his evil character of “The Bastard” with his immense in-ring ability to create one of the top stars in the company.
PAC became the first man to hold two titles at once in the company. That alone should earn him a spot on this list, as he was the All-Atlantic and Trios Champion at the same time. He has challenged for the AEW Championship unsuccessfully, but it is only a matter of time before the Englishman becomes a World Champion for the first time in his career.
While PAC may be one of the best wrestlers in AEW history, he has not reached the heights of some of his peers. Whatever the reason, he will probably go down as one of the greatest English wrestlers of all time and a pioneer in the ring for AEW.
11. Cody Rhodes
Despite leaving the company in 2022, former AEW EVP Cody Rhodes has established his legacy as one of AEW’s all-time greats. The former TNT Champion opened and closed his AEW career with five star matches and always gave his all in whatever match or story he was a part in.
While his creative choices may have been controversial, Cody Rhodes brought some incredible moments to the company, including his feud with Chris Jericho, his match with his brother Dustin Rhodes and being part of Brodie Lee’ final match in wrestling.
10. Orange Cassidy
Despite coming into AEW as a nobody in the world of professional wrestling, Orange Cassidy worked hard to become one of the most popular wrestlers in any company in the world.
Making his debut at Double or Nothing 2019, he entered the Casino battle royal and immediately got the fans on his side. His lazy gimmick was something nobody had ever seen before and resonated with the crowd, who backed him from the word go and never stopped.
He has teamed with the Best Friends in his run in AEW but also has much singles success in the company. He has won the All-Atlantic Championship and challenged for the AEW Championship against Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing 2021, coming close to becoming the world champion. The fact fans fully believed and were on board with this showed just how incredible a wrestle Orange Cassidy is.
9. Chris Jericho
AEW would not have happened without Chris Jericho. The first AEW Champion was instrumental in getting AEW Dynamite on the air, with his star power from 20 years in the business working for the WWE being the turning point for the companies fortunes.
Chris Jericho has been a constant in AEW since his debut. He entered the company by beating Kenny Omega on his debut before becoming the first AEW Champion in history, beating Adam Page at All Out 2019.
He is considered one of the best wrestlers in AEW despite some criticism held toward him. It has been noted that he usually feuds with the up-and-coming young stars, with feuds that go on too long and often end with Chris Jericho standing tall when him winning was needless.
8. FTR
The battle to become AEW’s best ever tag team was close, but we had to just sneak FTR in below another top duo in the company (who are next on the list).
Since joining the company from the WWE in 2020, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood – better known as FTR – have wowed fans with some of the best tag team wrestling the world has ever seen, and helped them to stake their claim as the best tag team ever.
They made history in 2022 by winning three different sets of tag team belts (AAA, ROH and NJPW’s versions of the tag team championships), while also putting on classic matches against teams like The Young Bucks, Aussie Open and many more.
FTR are now two time AEW Tag Team Champions, and will go down as one of the company’s greatest ever tag teams. Right below these two men…
7. The Young Bucks (Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson)
You cannot separate Nick and Matt Jackson, so the Young Bucks as a whole are included on the list AEW’s best wrestlers. The two men were the key player in the formation of AEW in 2019 and took a gamble by rejecting WWE to sign with Tony Khan’s pro-wrestling start-up.
Over the years they have put on countless five-star wrestling matches and solidified themselves as the greatest tag team of all time. They are AEW’s best tag team ever, which is why they rank so high on the list of the top wrestlers in AEW history.
6. MJF
MJF is one of the four pillars of AEW and the most successful of the bunch. He was the first of the four to win the AEW Championship, beating Jon Moxley at Full Gear 2022 to end a three-year story for the title.
He has grown a reputation for being the best promo in the business. His faultless delivery is brought down slightly by his brash nature and overuse of “cheap heat”, although he is growing ever time he steps into the ring as a performer.
Still in his 20s, MJF is nowhere near his peak. If he continues to progress then there is no reason why he can’t be considered an all-time great AEW star by the time he career is done.
5. Bryan Danielson
If we were looking at the the best AEW wrestlers purely based on in-ring skill, nobody would come close to “The American Dragon”. Since his debut at All Out 2021, Bryan Danielson has put on incredible matches week after week and has showcased skills that were repressed during his Wrestleamania main event-run in the WWE.
He is a main event talent in AEW but hasn’t quite been pushed that way yet. He has worked mainly in the mid card (by his own choice) to help improve other wrestlers and to get as much ring time as he wanted, simply because he loves to wrestle so much.
Once he wins an AEW Championship and has a sustained run in the main event, there is no doubt that Bryan Danielson will climb up the list of the best AEW wrestlers of all time and be considered one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business.
4. CM Punk
While his run in the company so far has been short, nobody has achieved as much in a short space of time. In just a year between All Out 2021 and 2022, CM Punk had a number of legendary feuds, cut some of the greatest promos of all time and wrestled in some of the most memorable matches of all time,
His debut in the company was legendary and raked in the biggest rating AEW Rampage has and will ever see. He went on to have matches with big stars like Adam Page, Jon Moxley and Darby Allin, beating them all on his way to glory.
He became the first ever two-time AEW Champion with wins over Jon Moxley and Adam Page. He looks to have been thrown out of the company after a controversial press conference post-All Out but he will go down as a first-ballot AEW Hall of Famer in the future as one of their greatest ever wrestlers.
CM Punk was fired by AEW in September 2023, for a fight backstage with Jack Perry at Wembley Stadium. This occurred prior to his match with Samoa Joe at All In, and allegedly saw him threaten AEW president Tony Khan.
3. Adam Page
As an AEW original “Hangman” Adam Page had a lot of goodwill from the fans during his AEW. Luckily. he turned that into one of the best runs in company history and became one of the best wrestlers in the world.
His storyline with The Elite and his quest for Kenny Omega’s AEW Championship was one of the most compelling storyline in wrestling history. He showed a complex, deep character arch that showcased mental health struggles that haven’t previously been shown in a professional wrestling context.
Adam Page is one of the best All Elite Wrestling wrestler’s because of his incredible wrestling ability and talent to connect with the crowd, bringing real-life issues that previously
2. Jon Moxley
Jon Moxley is the second best AEW wrestler due to his constant high performances in the company. Nobody has been as constant and consistent in the company than the former WWE Champion and he is rightfully considered one of AEW’s finest stars.
He was the second AEW Champion in history and went on to win three championships – the most world title reigns in AEW history. He has had feuds with the likes of Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston that main evented pay per views in front of thousands of fans.
He has been a big draw in the company because fans love Jon Moxley. However, he is only second place on this list because one man stands head and shoulders above the rest as the greatest AEW superstar of all time.
1. Kenny Omega
It’s close but Kenny Omega just pips Jon Moxley as the greatest wrestler in AEW history. The company would never have become the level it was without The Best Bout Machine and he made AEW Dynamite “must watch” for so many years.
Kenny Omega has won more titles in AEW than anybody else. He won the AEW Tag Team Championship with Adam Page in 2020. Later that year he defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship, holding the title for nearly a year before dropping it to Page again at Full Gear 2021.
He then won the AEW Trios Championships alongside the Young Bucks and is a two-time champion. With it, he became the first All Elite Wrestling wrestler to hold three different title belts, no even counting his Impact and AAA Titles he won as part of his reign as AEW Champion.
His time as the AEW Champion corresponded with the creative peak of AEW. He made the weekly TV show must watch and put on five-star matches regularly, even when he was struggling with injuries. Kenny Omega is the best AEW wrestler history because he has mastered every aspect of pro-wrestling – in-ring work, promo skills and his character as a whole.
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