All Elite Wrestling: Top Five Wrestlers of 2020
With 2020 winding down it, is time to take a look back at the first full year of All Elite Wrestling and the top performers in the company.
The year 2020 was not kind to many businesses in professional wrestling as the cloud of Covid-19 hung over the world. One new company that was able to continue to make strides, while still dealing with issues from the pandemic was All Elite Wrestling. AEW continued to make adjustments in their product and presentation in order to be able to provide content to wrestling fans and stay afloat.
AEW celebrated its first anniversary, put on some great pay-per-views, and continued to add talent at a time when other businesses were releasing a portion of their workforce. As the end of the year approaches it’s clear that the company has embraced the need to adjust and adapt during these trying times.
Much of this success is contingent upon the athletes that step into the ring. Putting together a list of the top wrestlers is so much more than reviewing win/loss records. Promos, vignettes, storytelling, match quality, and sometimes even taking a loss to further a story or a career of someone else are all factors that need to be considered. In 2020 AEW has put forth a long list of top moments that are worth mentioning in this list.
There are many wrestlers that are deserving to be on this list but here are the performers that stood out the most in wrestling’s most challenging year to date.
Honorable Mentions
Orange Cassidy: OC won a feud with Chris Jericho which culminated with the first-ever Mimosa Mayhem match. The King of Sloth Style has surged in popularity and brought a fresh new character to professional wrestling that most fans went crazy for. Though he has come up short in his quest to win the TNT title it is just a matter of time before we see the ambivalent Orange Cassidy with a strap of some kind.
Hangman Adam Page: Hangman was one half of the tag team champions and part of some of the best matches of the year in AEW. His match with Omega at Revolution against They Young Bucks and The Stadium Stampede match were instant classics. As good as 2020 was for Page expect 2021 to be even better as he has a great chance to be the one to dethrone the newly crowed AEW Champion Kenny Omega.
Nyla Rose: Nyla held the AEW Women’s Championship for a portion of 2020 before dropping the title to Hikaru Shida. The Native Beast is also the first openly transgender woman in professional wrestling. She is an inspiration to so many people in the world and has opened doors for transgender people everywhere.
MJF: MJF is a huge part of the future of AEW. His promos are top-notch and his match psychology has been great as well. He has shown a lot of diversity with his MJF 2020 campaign and the Le Dinner Debonair segments as well as winning the first-ever Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale. Had he won a title he may have found himself in the top 5 for 2020.