AEW World Championship
| AEW World Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) First champion Chris Jericho | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | All Elite Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | May 25, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Swerve Strickland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | April 21, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
The AEW World Championship is a professional wrestling championship in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is the top men's championship and the most important championship in AEW.
It is not a heavyweight championship because AEW doesn't have weight divisions.[1]
History[change | change source]
The title was introduced by Bret Hart in a segment at Double or Nothing on May 29, 2022.[2]
The first champion was Chris Jericho. Jericho defeated Adam Page in the main event of All Out.
During CM Punk's first reign as champion, he got injured and wanted to drop the championship. AEW president Tony Khan said that Punk would keep the championship but a new interim champion would be crowned after a tournament. The interim champion would then face Punk after he returned from injury to see who would become the undisputed champion.[3] Jon Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door. Punk returned and lost to Moxley.
During his second reign, Punk had his title stripped from him and was suspended. This was because he had gotten into a real-life backstage fight with AEW's executive vice presidents.[4] After a tournament, Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson at AEW Grand Slam to win the championship for a third time.[5]
Swerve Strickland is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Samoa Joe at Dynasty and became the first black wrestler to win the title.[6]
Title history[change | change source]
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Chris Jericho | August 31, 2019 | All Out | Hoffman Estates, IL | 1 | 182 | Defeated "Hangman" Adam Page to become the first champion. | [7] |
| 2 | Jon Moxley | February 29, 2020 | Revolution | Chicago, IL | 1 | 277 | [8] | |
| 3 | Kenny Omega | December 2, 2020 | Dynamite: Winter Is Coming |
Jacksonville, FL | 1 | 346 | [9] | |
| 4 | "Hangman" Adam Page | November 13, 2021 | Full Gear | Minneapolis, MN | 1 | 197 | [10] | |
| 5 | CM Punk | May 29, 2022 | Double or Nothing | Paradise, NV | 1 | 87 | [11] | |
| — | Jon Moxley | June 26, 2022 | AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door | Chicago, IL | — | 59 | CM Punk was the original champion but got injured. Moxley became the interim champion after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in a tournament. | [12][13] |
| 6 | Jon Moxley | August 24, 2022 | Dynamite | Cleveland, OH | 2 | 11 | Defeated original champion CM Punk to become the undisputed champion. This is recognized as Moxley's second reign by AEW. | [14] |
| 7 | CM Punk | September 4, 2022 | All Out | Hoffman Estates, IL | 2 | 3 | [15] | |
| — | September 7, 2022 | Dynamite | Buffalo, NY | The championship was stripped from CM Punk after Punk got into a real-life fight backstage and was suspended. After Punk returned to the company, he said that he was the "Real World Champion". AEW did not recognize the "Real World Championship" reign. Punk was fired after getting into another backstage fight. | [16][17][18] | |||
| 8 | Jon Moxley | September 21, 2022 | Dynamite: Grand Slam |
Flushing, Queens, NY | 3 | 59 | Defeated Bryan Danielson in a tournament final for the vacant title. | [19] |
| 9 | MJF | November 19, 2022 | Full Gear | Newark, NJ | 1 | 520 | This was MJF's Casino Poker Chip cash-in match. | [20] |
| 10 | Samoa Joe | December 30, 2023 | Worlds End | Uniondale, NY | 1 | 113 | [21] | |
| 11 | Swerve Strickland | April 21, 2024 | Dynasty | St. Louis, MO | 1 | 1+ | Strickland became the first black wrestler to win the title. | [6] |
References[change | change source]
- ↑ "Tony Khan On His Wrestling Fandom Fueling AEW, Weight Classes, Women's Wrestling Diversity & More". ProWrestling.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "Bret Hart Calls AEW Double Or Nothing Appearance A "One-Time Thing"". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW Announces Multi-Stage Interim World Championship Eliminator Series". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW World Championship Vacated, New Champion Set To Be Crowned At 9/21 AEW Dynamite Grand Slam". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam Results for September 21, 2022". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Powell, Jason (April 21, 2024). "AEW Dynasty results: Powell's live review of Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship, Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson, FTR vs. Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AEW Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
- ↑ "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Hangman Adam Page to become the first AEW Champion, Pentagon Jr. and Fenix vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AAA Tag Titles, Cody vs. Shawn Spears, Kenny Omega vs. Pac". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW Revolution results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Titles, Cody vs. MJF, Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship, Pac vs. Orange Cassidy". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "12/02 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship, Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal, Chris Jericho vs. Frankie Kazarian, Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks, Britt Baker vs. Leyla Hirsch". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW Full Gear results: Barnett's live review of Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship, Bryan Danielson vs. Miro in the eliminator tournament finals, Penta and Rey Fenix vs. FTR for the AEW Tag Titles, CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston, Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti for the AEW Women's Title, Darby Allin vs. MJF". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW Double Or Nothing results: Powell's live review of Hangman Page vs. CM Punk for the AEW Championship, MJF vs. Wardlow, Thunder Rosa vs. Serena Deeb for the AEW Women's Title, Owen Hart Cup tournament finals, The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus vs. Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland for the AEW Tag Titles". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW Announces Multi-Stage Interim World Championship Eliminator Series". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW-NJPW Forbidden Door results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Interim AEW World Title, Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's Title, Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy for the IWGP U.S. Title". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "8/24 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley for the unified AEW World Championship, Death Triangle vs. Will Ospreay and Aussie Open in an AEW Trios Title tournament match, Dax Harwood vs. Jay Lethal, Billy Gunn vs. Colten Gunn, Britt Baker vs. KiLynn King, Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia meeting". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson, Ricky Starks vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry vs. Christian Cage, Casino Ladder Match". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "9/7 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Tony Khan addressing the status of the AEW World Championship and AEW Trios Titles, MJF's return promo, Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure Rules Title, Death Triangle vs. Best Friends, Interim AEW Women's Champ Toni Storm vs. Penelope Ford in an eliminator match". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "CM Punk Takes His 'Real' AEW World Championship Out Of The Bag, Spray Paints It With An 'X'". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "Breaking: CM Punk Finished In AEW". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "9/21 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson for the vacant AEW World Championship, Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee vs. The Acclaimed for the AEW Tag Titles, Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Jericho for the ROH Title, Toni Storm vs. Athena vs. Britt Baker vs. Serena Deeb for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Pac vs. Orange Cassidy for the AEW All-Atlantic Title". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ "AEW Full Gear results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. MJF for the AEW World Championship, The Acclaimed vs. Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee for the AEW Tag Titles, Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Death Triangle vs. The Elite for the AEW Trios Titles, Saraya vs. Britt Baker". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ Powell, Jason (December 30, 2023). "AEW Worlds End results: Powell's live review of MJF vs. Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship, Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley to become the first AEW Triple Crown Champion". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 30, 2023.