AEW News and Notes: An idea for how to get the rankings over

Any idea who the #1 ranked contender in AEW is right now? If you guessed CM Punk, you’re not only wrong, but way wrong. Punk isn’t even in the Top 5.

The current rankings on the AEW website are still a week old, last updated on March 16, but as of mid-week last week, it was Wardlow, with a 7-1 record going into his match with TNT champ Scorpio Sky, which he lost due to outside interference from MJF.

Now, one, update the rankings on Monday. You have YouTube shows on Monday and Tuesday, then “Dynamite” on Wednesday. This shouldn’t be hard.

Two, OK, Wardlow won the ladder match at “Revolution” to earn the TNT title shot, but slotting him at #1 implies that he’s the top contender for the AEW world title, doesn’t it?

And how is Lance Archer #2, even with a 9-1 record in 2022, dubious as that is, given that most of those wins were on the YouTube shows.

Therein lies the big problem. So much that goes into the win-loss records of talents in the singles and tag divisions happens on the AEW YouTube channel.

Just looking at last week’s YouTube shows, “Dark” had 331,000 views, and “Dark: Elevation” had 249,000, respectable numbers, but a third to a fourth of what AEW gets for “Dynamite.”

Meaning: most of us don’t see all these wins that go into determining the top title contenders.

An aside here: the bulk of those YouTube wins are squash matches. I also cover college basketball and college football: squash matches are a Power 5 school beating an FCS or Group of 5.

You don’t get an NCAA Tournament bid or College Football Playoff spot for beating a bunch of FCS or Group of 5s; but a run of squashes can get you an AEW title shot.

OK, so, if that’s going to be the case, maybe put together a YouTube show highlight package for “Dynamite” each week to help get the people whose wins are going to lead to title opportunities over.

The crawl that we get every so often isn’t enough in that respect.

Tony Khan tries to sell how he’s a big numbers guy, and he wants win-loss records to matter. So, make them matter.

Story by Chris Graham