The AEW World Championship (more recently the AEW Men's World Championship) has had one of the better, and more protected, lineages of any modern wrestling title. The first several years of that lineage were near-perfect and the title has remained prestigious ever since; being the sole World Title in the organization means that it's the undisputed top prize. Ten men have held this title - eleven if you count Bret Hart bringing the title out to begin with - and all of them were top tier talents in the industry. Today I'll be ranking these guys, and the rich history of title reigns in the company's short history.
Current champion as of press time (shortly before All In 2026) - Kenny Omega (2nd reign)
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7th Champion - CM Punk (2nd)
Won: September 2022 (All Out)
Lost: Vacated
Days Held: 3
Main Antagonists: Himself
Hands-down the worst title "reign" in the history of the company and in top contention for the worst title reign in the history of wrestling itself. Punk won the title in the main event of All Out, got injured again in the process, then publically cut a promo on his co-workers at a media scrum, got into a fight backstage, and disappeared for eight months before returning, getting a new TV show built around him, getting into another fight, and becoming the first person to ever be fired by AEW.
Punk was tailor-made for AEW, the revolutionary company that actually went and MADE the industry-change that Punk spent years talking about the need for. Him joining - after being asked numerous times to come over by the Elite, the same guys who supposedly "ran him off" - and then imploding so spectacularly was a shame for everyone involved. Well, he went back to the monopoly and is going to make bank at Saudimania next year, and I doubt anyone in AEW really wants him back, so it worked out.
#17
5th Champion - CM Punk (1st)
Won: May 2022 (Double or Nothing)
Lost: Basically Vacated, but officially, August 2022 (Dynamite)
Days Held: 87
Main Antagonists: N/A
The only thing keeping this out of last place is that Punk didn't get injured during the match where he won the title, he got injured on the following show. At least he got to cut one promo as champion and participated in a 3-on-3 tag match (where his partners FTR did most of the work due to his injury). Then he was gone for months until he came back and lost to "Interim Champion" Moxley.
So, unlike the All Out title win that disintegrated within minutes, this reign at least existed for a couple of episodes of Dynamite and felt like it was going somewhere. The obvious long term plan was Punk vs MJF III at Full Gear later in the year, but I'm curious what Punk's feuds in the meantime would have been. This is a terrible reign that could have been awesome, though at least this one had a legitimate reason for being the way it was.
#16
15th Champion - Samoa Joe (2nd)
Won: November 2025 (Full Gear)
Lost: December 2025 (World's End)
Days Held: 35
Main Antagonists: MJF
A transitional, filler title reign where nothing really happened. At least it existed in any real tangible sense, unlike the previous two entries. While this reign was short and I'm not sure if it even had any defenses (none that I'm aware of), at least it had a good end result. I gotta say, MJF getting the title back exactly two years after he lost it, from the same guy, was good synergy. Those two years were a mostly dark time for the company. As for Joe, it never really felt like he was a top-tier guy or the beast he should be during these reigns, but rather a placeholder.
#15
10th Champion - Samoa Joe (1st)
Won: December 2023 (World's End)
Lost: April 2024 (Dynasty)
Days Held: 113
Main Antagonists: Swerve Strickland, Hangman Page
Aside from the mess that mid-2022 turned into after Punk won the title, this was the first real "filler reign" in company history that didn't feel up to par with how protected the title had been. Samoa Joe was booked a bit weak from the beginning of this reign, defeating an MJF who was so worn down from other battles that he only had the use of one arm. It also boggles the mind that the guy to finally beat MJF was Joe, who lost to CM Punk just a couple of months before this at All In. Imagine if we could press rewind and have Joe actually win the Punk match, claim the lineal world title, and go around calling himself the real champion en route to feuding with MJF here. This would have been a far more over feud and Joe would have seemed like a much more serious champion.
So how was the reign itself? For a filler reign, it was passable. Samoa Joe is one solid and reliable dude. However, business definitely took a downturn in this timeframe and things felt a bit aimless; Joe's one successful PPV title defense (against Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland in a triple threat) was a rare AEW title match to not be in the main event, playing second fiddle to Sting's retirement match.
#14
12th Champion - Bryan Danielson
Won: August 2024 (All In)
Lost: October 2024 (Wrestledream)
Days Held: 48
Main Antagonists: No one, really
One of the best title wins on this entire list, and I would LOVE to rate it more highly. Bryan winning the title in Wembley Stadium, in front of his family, in an excellent match, was one of AEW's high points. However, it was also clear that Bryan was basically done, and win or lose, he was on his way out after that match. Since he won, he'd stick around until he lost the title, however long that took. Fans had high hopes that it would be a while.
He held onto the title for about a month and a half - and as I recall only had two defenses, against Jungle Boy and Nigel McGuiness - before losing to Jon Moxley at the next major show in what ended up being Bryan's retirement match. That match was somehow one of the worse AEW PPV main events, despite being between two top-tier professionals. It was slow, grindy, and let down by a lethargic crowd that clearly didn't have a firm grasp on the gravity of the moment. The hushed silence when Bryan lost tells me that they didn't expect him to actually lose and retire any time soon, much less that night.
6th Champion - Jon Moxley (2nd)
Won: June 2022 (Interim - Forbidden Door), August 2022 (Main - Dynamite)
Lost: September 2022 (All Out)
Days Held: 70
Main Antagonists: CM Punk
This is technically the only title win on the entire list that happened on a regular, non-special episode of Dynamite. It's also the only title win that technically happened twice. Moxley won an "Interim World Title" in June 2022 (defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door) due to the world champion CM Punk being out injured. Then, he beat CM Punk in a "world title unification" match on a Dynamite in August to unify the "Interim" title with the regular title. AEW counts all of this as one continuous reign, rather than two separate title wins/reigns.
This is the point in time when the title lineage really lost its way and got jumbled up. Because of that, it's going to rank pretty low. The title lineage was perfect up until all of this went down. As for the content of this reign, it was alright; Moxley defended the title a few times on Dynamite over the Summer (and kept delaying the vacation he was supposed to take) and there were a few good matches in there.
#12
8th Champion - Jon Moxley (3rd)
Won: September 2022 (Dynamite: Grand Slam)
Lost: November 2022 (Full Gear)
Days Held: 59
Main Antagonists: MJF
The "second half" of the above reign after the title got vacated by Punk (again) and Moxley won a tournament for the vacant title (again). Everything just felt weird and lacked a spark at that point in time, and most of this reign was dedicated to Moxley feuding with MJF in what was clearly supposed to be a Punk/MJF feud continuation. This was the point in time where Moxley really did earn his moniker of "the guy who cleans up other people's messes", if he hadn't already done enough by being the champion for most of the empty-arena era.
This reign had actual fans in the arenas, but it wasn't great; a visibly-tired Moxley was just there to carry it forward and pass the ball to MJF. This reign and the previous Jon Moxley reign might as well have all been one combined reign with a few weird blips in it. This "second half" of it is better than the first half because at least it went somewhere and didn't just feel like a placeholder, putting over MJF strongly at Full Gear '22.
#11
4th Champion - Hangman Page (1st)
Won: November 2021 (Full Gear)
Lost: May 2022 (Double or Nothing)
Days Held: 197
Main Antagonists: Adam Cole
The fourth, and final world title run that was planned out at the company's inception. Everything AEW did in its early years was building towards Hangman conquering his issues and ascending to "hero of the company" status, from his losing the very first AEW World Title match at All Out '19 to Chris Jericho, all the way up to this huge victory more than two years later. Hangman specifically facing Kenny for the title was a storyline over a year in the making on its own, with Hangman falling short at Full Gear 2020 due to his own insecurities... and then rising above them to defeat his superior-on-paper opponent at Full Gear 2021.
I thought they'd go right into Hangman and MJF squaring off in the main event scene, but that feud mostly ended up waiting until later in time with Hangman's second reign. This first reign was more about Hangman just proving himself as a main eventer, facing the new arrivals like Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk. Hangman had some good matches during this timeframe, but as a paladin-esque good guy, his reign and character were almost a bit bland. Especially considering the incredible buildup to get there. The buildup was far better than the reign, is what I'm saying.
He really needed a better lineup of feuds and a roadmap of opponents, not to mention more than the two PPVs he got to defend the title on. Perhaps with more time, Hangman could have turned this reign into something truly memorable. However, as it was, it was the first reign in company history that wasn't awesome. Once he wasn't feuding with Omega anymore, Hangman just kinda treaded water and felt like he was holding the belt until another top-level guy took it away. The reign DID mint him as a star, but most of that was from the initial win. It's a reign that started out super well and then just kinda petered out, raising questions about AEW's ability to keep a babyface champion hot over time.
#10
13th Champion - Jon Moxley (4th)
Won: October 2024 (Wrestledream)
Lost: July 2025 (All In)
Days Held: 273
Main Antagonists: Everyone
Best Match: Hangman Page, All In '25
This was the infamous "Death Riders Era", where Moxley kept the World Championship in a suitcase for like ten months. He also formed a stable and reigned as a heel champion for the first time (his first 3 reigns were all very much "good guy" reigns). The Death Riders are a great stable now, but that wasn't true for a long time, and they came off more like a more violent NWO knockoff without any of the cool factor. A lot of people really dislike this era and it coincides with some of AEW's worst business since its inception. For most of that time, the Death Riders weren't over enough for a top heel stable yet, and the shows were sometimes formulaic and dull when centered around them. This era gave us most of AEW's less well-received PPV main events, like the infamous match where Moxley defeated Edge, got cashed in on by Christian, and then defeated him too in the most anticlimactic possible ending to that show.
So why is it ranked kind of highly on here? Because it was very much a transitional and transformational reign. This era built Hangman Page back up, after his credibility was damaged quite a bit by the events of 2022. He'd been a heel and a problem-plagued character for a while, a hero who lived long enough to see himself become the villain. Over this time period, they turned things around and Hangman conquered all of his demons (again), made peace with his foes (including his arch-nemesis Swerve Strickland), and fought through everything in front of him to get to Moxley and the championship. All In 2025 was debatably AEW's best show to date, and their largest North American crowd to date, and Moxley's title reign culminating with Hangman's win was an incredibly cathartic match and moment. It made all of the doldrums suddenly worth it to emerge into the light at the other end of the tunnel. This is also the strongest heel champion run Moxley has had in his entire career, something I personally waited a long time to see after following his career from the start in NXT.
One last, kind of remarkable detail about this reign: When Hangman defeated Moxley and rescued the Championship from its suitcase prison, the belt still had Bryan Danielson's side plates on it.
#9
18th Champion - MJF (3rd)
Won: May 2026 (Double or Nothing)
Lost: July 2026 (Dynamite)
Days Held: 45
Main Antagonists: Mark Briscoe, Kenny Omega
Best Match: Kenny Omega, Beach Break
MJF's most recent reign, as of press time, and the last completed reign on the list. This was a transitional reign, and I'm not really sure what purpose it served. Could have had Darby hold the title a bit longer and face Kenny Omega. It's basically just part two of MJF's second title reign, where it seemed like MJF would carry the belt into Wembley Stadium in August to face Will Ospreay. Had he kept the title until then as people expected, this reign would be ranked significantly higher (...and wouldn't be on here, as it'd be ongoing). However, the fans basically willed a Kenny Omega title win into existence; and combined with MJF's nagging injuries, we had another fairly quick title transfer.
MJF continued to function as a "center of gravity" for the company and the title here, mostly feuding with Ospreay and Omega and complaining about being overlooked by them. The fact that most of this quick reign felt like it was dedicated to MJF feuding with Mark Briscoe brings it down quite a bit. Briscoe isn't really a top level guy or someone anyone could take seriously as a threat for the title, much less a threat through a PPV.
#8
14th Champion - Hangman Page (2nd)
Won: July 2025 (All In)
Lost: November 2025 (Full Gear)
Days Held: 133
Main Antagonists: Kyle Fletcher, MJF
Best Match: Kyle Fletcher, All Out '25
Hangman might be a lot better of a character when chasing the title than he is as champion, because every time he has the title, it's sorta like they aren't sure what to do with him. I had high hopes for this reign going better than the first one, with them having had a few years to figure out Hangman's strengths (mostly just being himself). He was certainly a much more fleshed-out character by this point, having spent years as a tweener wandering in the wilderness after his first reign. For a guy intended to be the top face and main hero of AEW, I just haven't felt like he was ever comfortable in the role, and it isn't surprising that he stepped back from it altogether soon after this.
All of that said, this was a better reign than his first, and he felt far more established here both as a character and as a main eventer. His journey from going through a rite of passage to establish himself in his first reign to being established and completely sure of himself in the second was probably one of the best character arcs in modern wrestling. However, this reign didn't last long enough to really get going or gain the identity it could have.
#7
1st Champion - Chris Jericho
Won: August 2019 (All Out)
Lost: February 2020 (Revolution)
Days Held: 182
Main Antagonists: Cody Rhodes, Jon Moxley
Best Match: Jon Moxley, Revolution '20
The inaugural champion had a bit of a legendary run. It felt like it went on longer than the mere six months that it did, and gave the debuting company a strong heel centerpiece while new stars got built in the background. After DoN 2019, a lot of folks were surprised that the first champion wasn't going to be star player Kenny Omega, but it was a good idea to wait on that and build towards it. At All Out 2019 the company had a choice to make. Hangman Page would have set the tone as a young up and comer who represented the winds of change, while Jericho would seem to represent the old guard and what AEW was trying to move away from. Well, switcheroo! Jericho ended up being the right choice, and Hangman's climbs to the title (both of them) ended up being some of AEW's most compelling eras.
This first reign offered some much-needed stability with an established wrestling superstar as the company got off the ground, with the promise of more-interesting reigns to come. Jericho never felt like he had the highest power level in the company at all, with both Omega and Moxley generally above him during the reign, but it was a solid reign that did what it needed to do to get things going.
#6
16th Champion - MJF (2nd)
Won: December 2025 (World's End)
Lost: April 2026 (Dynamite)
Days Held: 109
Main Antagonists: Hangman Page, Kenny Omega
Best Match: Hangman Page, Revolution '26
After the Samoa Joe reset, but before the Darby Allin reset, MJF handed in some really strong work as the company-stabilizing continued. He and Hangman were clearly positioned from the start as the top bad guy and good guy respectively in the company; while they'd faced off before, their battle at Revolution 2026 felt like their biggest match yet. A PPV later, MJF stopped Kenny Omega after becoming the one person to ever survive the One Winged Angel in AEW. Mainly because there was no ref and it took a little extra time for one to get in there, but still, defeating Omega one PPV after defeating Hangman is quite a pedigree. This felt very much like the world title mattered again after a year of it being in the wilderness with the Death Riders storyline and its aftermath.
#5
17th Champion - Darby Allin
Won: April 2026 (Dynamite)
Lost: May 2026 (Double or Nothing)
Days Held: 39
Main Antagonists: MJF
Best Match: MJF, Double or Nothing '26
A title reign that totally revitalized the company and got people talking, this was an awesome reset button that got AEW moving in the right direction again. The reign itself lasted only a month, but Darby had more defenses in one month than any other champion in company history. It was one of those Mankind-esque "don't let anyone tell you you can't do it" type of wins that rewarded a lot of longtime fans who didn't think they'd ever see Darbs get that big win. Downside is, we all kinda knew it wouldn't last too long, and it didn't. It was a cool moment in time that drew a lot of lapsed fans back in. Not sure if it really elevated him or if anyone expects him to get back to this level, the way it elevated Swerve, but it was a moment in time and it was good.
#4
11th Champion - Swerve Strickland
Won: April 2024 (Dynasty)
Lost: August 2024 (All In)
Days Held: 126
Main Antagonists: Will Ospreay, Hangman Page
Best Match: Bryan Danielson, All In '24
And speaking of which... An underrated wrestler and champion, Swerve is incredibly versatile and charismatic. He can function equally well as a good guy, bad guy, or in some grey area in-between. For this reign, he started as a good guy and ended up being more of a bad guy by the end, mainly due to having some desperation to fend off the momentum of a challenger as motivated, driven, and hard to stop as Bryan Danielson.
Swerve himself is one of the most legit craftsmen in this era of wrestling, a possibly-underrated performer who exudes equal parts fun and menace; his original theme music (sung by himself) could be played for both dancing and stalking slowly down an alleyway. He's neither heel nor face, really - he's a real person who calls it as he sees it and bows down to no one. He's in that rarified Steve Austin group of "wrestlers who one company didn't see much in, so he went somewhere else and proved how good he was". (See also: Toni Storm in this same timeframe). Most of all, Swerve has an authenticity that elevates him above most of his peers. It's that rare authenticity that makes audiences truly connect with a wrestler.
This was a title reign that really worked, always gave us great matches (including an absurdly good title defense against Ospreay), and served the important purpose of elevating someone from the midcard to being a main event fixture. The only downside to this reign is how short it was, clocking in at four months.
#3
2nd Champion - Jon Moxley (1st)
Won: February 2020 (Revolution)
Lost: December 2020 (Dynamite: Winter is Coming)
Days Held: 277
Main Antagonists: Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston, Kenny Omega
Best Match: MJF, All Out '20
The best pure "good guy" title reign AEW has ever pulled off, by a mile. During a difficult time with no crowds, Moxley put the company on his back and carried it. One of the main reasons AEW continued to be watchable that year - moreso than WWE, in my view, outside of ironically Roman Reigns - is because of Moxley's work. A top 3 title reign by any fairly-measured metric, this one was hampered out of the gate by the time it took place in. After defeating "Le Champion" at Revolution '20, Moxley got to experience an entire two weeks of Dynamites with crowds before the rest of this reign was plunged into the darkness of the Empty Arena Era. And it's a shame because this reign was very well orchestrated and carried on the high booking quality of the first few months of AEW.
Moxley had three major PPV title defenses and all three were top-notch. At Double or Nothing '20 he defeated "The Exalted One" of the Dark Order, Mr. Brodie Lee, who had months of buildup as a new higher power behind the scenes that was on his way to AEW. One of the few "higher power" storylines in wrestling that actually paid off. Brodie made the most of his main event push and had a barn-burner of a match with Moxley. After that, Moxley took down the undefeated MJF at All Out '20 in MJF's first PPV main event - one he wasn't ready for yet, but made the most of. Everyone involved did their best, but it was obvious they were in a holding pattern and no real paradigm shift (heh) was going to happen until there were crowds.
The lack of crowds didn't prevent them from telling some good stories in the meantime. Moxley vs Eddie Kingston at Full Gear '20 was a battle between two legitimate old friends, one of whom had found success in wrestling and one of whom didn't. Kingston feeling "left behind" by Moxley while he himself sacrificed everything to get nowhere was an imminently relatable storyline, and after battling it out, they were back to being staunch allies from that point onward. The title reign came to an end when Moxley met Kenny Omega on the field of battle, a match that had been hovering in the background for a year beforehand and was always the big money match in waiting for early-era AEW. This reign could have possibly been #1 if it had crowds all year.
#2
9th Champion - MJF (1st)
Won: November 2022 (Full Gear)
Lost: December 2023 (World's End)
Days Held: 406
Main Antagonists: Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Jay White
Best Match: Bryan Danielson, Iron Man match, Revolution '23
The longest AEW world title reign of anyone (to this point, and probably ever), this beast of a title reign had MJF as a heel for the majority and then a face for the last few months. He was gold in both roles. This was another "stabilizing" reign that brought some much-needed stability to the title / company after the complete mess that 2022 had been. This title reign almost sputtered at launch because it was going to be the culmination of MJF's feud with Punk; with Punk suspended and injured, they had to back up and spend some time doing a tournament and whatnot before having MJF win the title from Moxley, who he hadn't been feuding with.
In the heel half of this reign, he had a great feud with Bryan Danielson (including possibly the best Iron Man match of all time) and then a fun four-way match with the rest of the ostensible and definitely arguable "Four Pillars" of AEW. We then got a smooth conversion from heel to face as MJF did the seemingly impossible and made a friend with Adam Cole. This led to a Fall face run where he spent some time in the tag team division and feuded with top heels like Jay White and Samoa Joe. Problem is, again, the title reign got stalled a bit by injuries. Feuds with Punk and Adam Cole were supposed to bookend this title reign and both feuds went down to injury. It's a 9 out of 10 reign that could have been a 10 if not for a few things out of anyone's control.
#1
3rd Champion - Kenny Omega
Won: December 2020 (Dynamite: Winter is Coming)
Lost: November 2021 (Full Gear)
Days Held: 346
Main Antagonists: Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Hangman Page
Best Match: Bryan Danielson, Grand Slam '21
Kenny's one and only world title reign that saw a conclusion (as of press time, he's the current champion and in his second reign), this is almost without question the best title reign in company history. Omega towered over his opposition as champion, and despite being almost exclusively a heel for this yearlong reign, he had the audience's respect the whole time. AEW 2021 was without question the best year any non-WWE wrestling company has had since 1998 - not just creatively, but also financially - and a lot of that is because of who was the company's standard-bearer. Omega never failed to turn in entertaining matches with his Street Fighter inspired moveset, and his "belt collector" gimmick really kicked into full swing during this timeframe.
This reign was a lot bigger than just one man, too. The "belt collector" gimmick was both memorable and exemplified what AEW is all about. Omega would travel around to other promotions, murder their champions, and take their world titles. And he could do this, act like a modern Ric Flair, because he carries enough gravitas with the fans and respect from his peers in the modern era. AEW working with smaller indy promotions elevates the profile of those promotions and makes the wrestling world seem bigger, makes the stars of those indies bigger, and makes signing them to a big league like AEW matter more. Companies working together expands the entire pro wrestling ecosystem and turns it into a community, something that had been lost for decades.
The high point of this reign is probably the Grand Slam NYC title match against Bryan Danielson, which to this day has the loudest crowd reactions of any wrestling match I've ever watched in person. Being in the crowd for that match - which went to a 30 minute draw and we never got a rematch to resolve this - was really something. Another high point would be the end of the reign, the match against Hangman Page that was the culmination of an 18 month storyline. Something we never see in wrestling anymore, harkening back to the days of Hogan vs Sting (only with an exponentially more satisfying final match).
Having this, AEW's longest and best feud to date, end at a Full Gear PPV exemplified the importance of AEW's regular PPVs and the fact that huge events don't need to be saved for a single yearly mega-show. So much was accomplished with this reign from top to bottom that it really could have gone on for another year and been fine. Of course, it did have a few weak points, like the cursed Revolution '21 Moxley match and the first few months having to go without crowds. Once those first few months were over with and things fell into place, this became hands-down the high point of the company's history.
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