The Power Rankings are late this week as I have been busy being co-opted by AEW. This week's official Power Rankings (only on Fightful) are coming to you live from Baltimore, the site of AEW Full Gear. And the Power Rankings will also have a live perspective as I was in attendance for AEW Dynamite in Charlotte. I've made the co-opted joke. So try something new.
Here's how it works; I rank anything and everything from the past week of AEW Dynamite, giving what I liked a low number and what I didn't like a higher number. The numbers are fairly arbitrary, but an explanation accompanies each ranking. Because AEW won't use the same talent every week, you won't see the same people, places, or things ranked every week. If you don't see something ranked, feel free to ask me on social media (@jeremylambert88) where it would fall. I will use a random number generator and reply ASAP.
If you missed anything from AEW Dynamite, check out Fightful's full report on the show. You can also catch up on where things stand with last week's Power Rankings.
AEW Power Rankings - Week Seven
1. Cody's Promo
As good as Jon Moxley's promo was the week prior, Cody crushed it even more this week. The timing, the fire, the conviction, the control. The crowd hung on every word and Cody captured that emotional and "real feel" that he talks so much about. This is what happens when you don't script promos and you're allowed to tell your story to sell your match. For my money, there is no one in wrestling who has a better connection with his/her audience than Cody.
Another victory for Le Champion in the main event. Talk about protecting a champion. Sammy Guevara was seemingly in this match to take the pinfall and yet, Jericho picked up the win for his team. He also gave a great performance in the parody video and dropped a Katie Vick reference during the commercial.
3. Emi Sakura
Great win over Riho ahead of their AEW Women's Title match on Saturday. Crowd was cold for everyone in the match outside of Riho and all four ladies worked hard and got the crowd into it. I hope commentary put over Sakura and her character because the title match didn't feel like a big deal when it was announced.
4. Soultrain Jones
Can't believe they got the legend known as Soultrain Jones. Huge score for AEW and arguably the biggest free agent signing in their short history.
5. Pac
A win against Trent keeps him moving right along as he positions himself for an AEW World Title shot. He also fought through two broken legs after taking the devastating kicks of Orange Cassidy. A very tough man is Pac.
9. Sammy Guevara
Outstanding performance in the Jericho video and was part of the winning team in the main event. Plus, he gave a great mosh routine during Jericho's entrance.
15. The Person In The Crowd With The "AEW Is The Minor Leagues" Sign
I admire the courage.
18. Jericho's Aunt's Friend From Church
She'll have to give a little extra on Sunday but she's now the second biggest female star on the roster.
19. Video Packages
WE'RE GETTING THEM! The Jericho video package was amazing, the Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley hype video was very good, and the Brandi video happened. Keep these coming and start using them to feature lesser known talent.
23. Closing Show Brawl
Half the episodes of AEW Dynamite have ended with a multi-man closing show brawl. To AEW's credit, the live crowd absolutely loves them and they are different enough to not feel repetitive. But I knocked them for doing the brawls two weeks in a row and I'll knock them for going back to the well on Wednesday. This can't be a continued habit because, at some point, there will be diminishing returns. I think. Honestly, who knows with the AEW crowds. Everything they do gets a huge reactions.
32. Private Party
A win gets them into the AEW Tag Team Title bout at Full Gear and another impressive performance.
40. Joey Janela
Who is this guy? If you don't watch Being The Elite, you don't have a backstory for Janela vs. Spears and Janela doesn't really have a reason to save Brandon Cutler either. This was Janela's dynamite debut and I hope commentary explained why he showed up. That said, I totally buy that he just dislikes Shawn Spears because Shawn Spears is an easy person to dislike.
55. Shawn Spears
He won. But once the theme ends, there's not a whole lot there. And they're still playing off the "Ten" gimmick, which doesn't help people forget where he came from or move him forward.
60. Cody's Announcement
As good as the promo was, the announcement didn't do much for me. We all know Cody is a co-executive vice president and there's no issue with mentioning it on TV. My issue is that, Cody said he won't challenge for the title ever again if he loses as a way to prove he's not booking himself in the top spot. But...what if he wins? Now, instead of winning because he's the most over act in the company, his winning can be interpreted as putting the belt on himself because he's management.
67. Medals
That whole thing just looked goofy.
74. The Dark Order
Perhaps their best in-ring performance but the characters have major issues. They're supposed to be creepy guys from another world or something and here's Stewart using an elastic band backstage to get his party pump on.
100. Bryce Remsburg
You can blame Trent for not kicking out, but the real fault lies on Remsburg for not counting the fall. No one is hurt if he counts because Pac was going to win anyway. Treat it like a shoot instead of making everyone look bad.
1000. Pyro
You forget how jumpy pyro makes you when you haven't experience it at a wrestling event in so long and then it goes off.
