AEW: 5 ideal choices to become the first-ever TNT Champion

Orange Cassidy

Perhaps the dark horse of these options, “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy has only recently shown the AEW audience what he’s capable of. Cassidy is also the hardest competitor on this list to describe. You really have to see him do this thing to understand it.

Cassidy’s inexplicable combination of effortless awesomeness has quickly made him one of the most beloved characters in all of AEW. We saw brief glimpses of his ability on both Dynamite and Dark, but it wasn’t until his match with PAC at Revolution that Cassidy’s skills were truly on display.

Much like that situation, Cassidy could be deadly here if he just…tried. If he’s convinced, by himself or Best Friends, that capturing the TNT Championship is something he should do, no one may be able to stop him from tearing through the competition.

Darby Allin

The final option here is also the only real choice. I would be happy with any of these five competitors being the inaugural TNT Champion. I’d even be happy with some who I didn’t list here, but Darby Allin is the perfect pick.

AEW is still relatively young, and as such many of their stars have crafted their careers and names in other companies before coming to All Elite Wrestling. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Darby Allin feels like the biggest exception to this rule.

Allin is just a few months older than Sammy Guevara, who is the youngest entry on this list, but Darby Allin is easily the least experienced. Having only debuted in 2015, Allin slowly made his mark on the independent scene over the first few years of his career, but he’s become one of the most over names in all of AEW since the company’s founding.

Darby Allin made his AEW debut at Fyter Fest, pushing Cody Rhodes to a 20-minute time limit draw. He followed it with a breathtaking performance in the Cracker Barrel Clash at All Out, and a defeat of Jimmy Havoc that earned him an AEW World Championship shot.

With every week, Allin continues to deliver star-making performances against veterans and fellow rising stars alike. He’s the closest thing AEW has to a homegrown talent, and there is no better choice to be the inaugural TNT Champion.