AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament bracket is underwhelming at first glance

All Elite Wrestling does several things exceptionally well. There’s an obvious reason why fans are excited, bringing that energy to every show and conversation about the brand. But even with such success, there’s some room for improvement along the way. One such example is the upcoming AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament, a great tool to build to the future. But that didn’t stop some from feeling underwhelmed with the bracket when it was revealed on AEW Dynamite.

The AEW Eliminator Tournament features some compelling names. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley immediately pop off the page. Danielson has been on a run unlike any other in what has already been an exceptional career. Then there’s Moxley, whose ability to remain over with the fans almost supersedes the title itself. Powerhouse Hobbs is another interesting name because fans have wanted to see him build to a sustained run toward the top.

But the rest of the tournament bracket leaves some scratching their head. The Dark Order’s 10 (Preston Vance), Orange Cassidy, Dustin Rhodes, Lance Archer, and Eddie Kingston make out the rest of the field. In a promotion that has placed so much emphasis on single wins and making them worth something, looking at the individuals remaining causes questioning around why they in the tournament are, to begin with.

Let’s look at Vance for example. According to data on Cagematch, his last singles victory came on AEW Dark back in September where he defeated Brandon Gore in less than three minutes. Before that, he had another singles win in May of this year. All his other matches in AEW have been some form of tag contest.

Rhodes’s activity has been waning as of late as well. He’s picked one singles win in October and one more in September, two months prior to a singles victory in July – all this action was also on AEW Dark.

Archer and Cassidy are “bigger” names but they don’t introduce any intrigue around this tournament. They’ve been involved in many opportunities to earn a title shot, both of which were in the Casino Ladder Match a week ago. There seems to be a potential angle brewing between Moxley and Cassidy, which will come out during the tournament, but there are other ways to get there.

This all goes with asking the question of if there was more to gain with using the tournament to feature names that generate interest. For example, imagine if this tournament included Daniel Garcia, Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, PAC, Sonny Kiss, or Andrade. Yes, some of those individuals participate in other angles, but that doesn’t mean they should completely be avoided for this bracket.

AEW has kicked down the “Forbidden Door” with full force. Think of the response that would have come if someone like Chris Bey, KENTA, or another big name from a major promotion came through the door. Fans wouldn’t have stopped talking about the bracket from the moment it was released.

The AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament will be “good.” Viewers should expect strong matches from everyone involved, with a potential huge contest set for AEW Full Gear next month. But its hard to look at this bracket and wonder what could have been if some different names were added to the shuffle.