Will there be longer reigns than the ones we’ve seen so far? Yes, of course we will but there is no denying that the early precedent AEW have set for the TNT championship is that it’s more likely to change hands than the world title.
A lot of companies have an extensive singles-competition “mid-card,” a term that EVP and former TNT champion Cody Rhodes hates but for the purposes of this article it’s the best description. Due to the “mid-card” usually consisting of the main chunk of the roster, bigger companies end up with multiple mid-card singles titles; e.g in WWE you have two world titles but also the US title, the Intercontinental title, the 24/7 title etc. So with that, you’ll see quite a lot of title changes.
This sort of thing preconditions fans to being used to seeing title changes often and people enjoy seeing new wrestlers getting crowned for the first time or seeing their favourite winning the belt for the fifth or sixth time.
There’s nothing wrong with the concept of that but if you have too many titles, they lose their significance.
In AEW, they have two. The world title and the TNT title. The TNT title is the equivalent of WWE’s US, Intercontinental and one of their world titles championships being rolled into one. This has led to that TNT strap feeling very important and whomever should carry the belt won’t be an afterthought to the audience on the show.
Also, the list of potential winners for this title is varied and vast. Full of young and experienced talent alike, the sheer quality of the AEW roster has already demonstrated how easy it is for them to crown a credible champion with a title belt which has already had a prestigious start to life. With Mr Brodie Lee winning it, Cody Rhodes holding it twice and Darby Allin holding it now.
The current champion is significant. Darby shows the fans and talent that AEW aren’t just crowning ultra-seasoned professionals as champions, they will have their younger talent win and grow up as champions too. Finding a balance between the future and the now.
I mentioned that the list of potential winners was a big one, so I couldn’t possibly fit all of them onto here. I will however make a list of those who I think can win the belt relatively soon.
Here we go:
- MATT SYDAL- Will probably never be world champion in AEW but the TNT title would look good on him.
- LANCE ARCHER- If there was any man on the roster that I would have holding the TNT title for as long as possible, it’s Archer. I still believe that he should have won a title by now. There’s not a lot of guys with the physical presence that Archer has, AEW would be foolish to not capitalise on that fully. I can see him winning the world title just as easily.
- EDDIE KINGSTON- With his real promos and fans loving to see him on a big stage, this guy surely has to be a champion.
- ANY MEMBER OF TEAM TAZ- Brian Cage, Ricky Starks or Will Hobbs. I don’t even need to explain. If you watch them, you know why. All three are excellent talents. Who betta??
- ORANGE CASSIDY- Here’s the thing, I love this guy but there is no way they will make him a world champion. I’m sorry, there’s just no way. However, becoming a multi-time TNT champion? Very plausible and would be very awesome.
- PAC- PAC’s one of the few guys in AEW right now who I can see winning both belts down the line. I think he’ll win the world title more times but surely he has to win the TNT belt too.
- HANGMAN ADAM PAGE- Speaking of men who I could see winning both titles, the Hangman is the future talisman of AEW. He’s already on his way there. Fans will go mental when he finally wins the big world championship. I do see him having a lot of reigns as TNT champion before that though. I think he’ll win it seven or eight times.
I could easily triple the amount of names on that list; I could include Joey Janela, Shawn Spears, Kenny Omega, Jungleboy etc. That’s just how good this roster is and it also shows how well they have built up the TNT championship because you want to see people win it.
Who will win the belt next? I have no idea but patterns would suggest that Darby will drop the belt before Revolution in February. So perhaps a Team Taz member will win it sooner than I initially thought.
For a non-world title, the TNT title feels incredibly important and I can’t wait to see who gets to hold it in the years to come.
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