One thing that AEW has emphasized in the weeks leading up to its premiere episode on TNT is the importance of win-loss records.
What has been noticeable on AEW programming is the graphics placed for each wrestler's win-loss record before every match and commentary talking about those records. Not only that, AEW's official website recently added those win-loss records on each wrestler on the roster.
In an interview with WrestleZone, Cody Rhodes spoke about the unveiling of AEW's Top Five and said it could come right before the Full Gear pay-per-view taking place on November 9. As far as how the rankings are going to be handled, Rhodes said the top five wrestlers won't just be the ones with the best win-loss record, as it will take into account other factors, such as strength of schedule, comparing it to college football's AP Top 25 Polls.
“On the Friday before Full Gear, I think we’re going to put our first-ever ‘Top Fives’ and [that] should become a weekly thing. This isn’t just broadcast this is also social, just like with college football and the AP Poll, you get your Top 20. Sometimes a guy who is 5-0 is not ranked in the top three because the quality of wins, the softness of the schedule and it’s fun because in college football people argue over—especially when we get near the playoffs—people ‘should, should they not’ [get in]. PAC right now has these great wins over Hangman Page and Kenny Omega, he’s essentially Ohio State for us at this point. There’s gotta be a title shot in his future, and there is if he keeps winning and keeps going, but I believe before Full Gear we’ll have our Top Five for women, for tags and for singles and now that we have more and more every week it helps us so much from data," Rhodes said.
Rhodes further discussed the importance of having commentary discuss win-loss records to further drive home the point that AEW is going for a more sports-oriented approach when it comes to professional wrestling.
“I’ve expanded—to be fair, Kevin Sullivan’s expanded the lower thirds on talent so you can see their records. We want their records to be more present because Jim Ross is talking about them, Tony Schiavone is talking about them. Once we get a few more wins, a few more losses, a few more draws, whatever they may be, it really helps create that tapestry for us which is something we promised and it wasn’t just a campaign promise. Sports-centric, the guys winning the matches are the guys getting the title matches," Rhodes said.
The full interview between Rhodes and WrestleZone can be read at this link.
