AEW has too many championships

AEW Grand Slam is a two-show event this week, spanning both Dynamite and Collision. Both cards are shaping up to be a strong night of professional wrestling. However, looking at the event, this is another opportunity to raise the question about whether AEW has too many titles, and perhaps the need to begin to sunset some of these belts. It’s becoming more apparent that those steps are in fact, necessary.

All Elite Wrestling currently has nine championships across its men’s and women’s divisions. This doesn’t include the seven additional titles in Ring of Honor that frequently appear on AEW television. Except for the women’s titles, which apparently aren’t allowed on AEW main roster TV, but that’s another conversation for another day.

Having several titles can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it allows for more names to be involved in what should be perceived as important angles, as they battle over titles, even though they are outside the main event picture. AEW has done a good job making sure some of the belts feel important. Take the International Title currently held by Will Ospreay. This has been a well-booked championship, with each of the seven men who’ve held it experiencing strong booking while the belt was around their waist. Then there’s a belt like the TNT Championship, which has had better moments, but now feels like more than a prop than anything else. The same could be said about the FTW Championship.

The other side of that sword becomes a problem when the champions are booked in too many angles around belts. Take Jack Perry challenging Bryan Danielson at AEW All Out. Perry is the TNT Champion who was coming off a successful defense over Darby Allin. Instead of having another challenger lined up for that title, he goes right into a match with the World Champion and loses. Does that diminish the value of his title? Perhaps. But it does take time around from other performers who could have been built up as challengers for both men.

The women’s division has two championships and there are times when both feel equally important. Mariah May and Mercedes Mone are each built well, with a list of challengers poised to come at them. Part of the reason this works is that with just two titles for the ladies, they each feel more desired by the women chasing them, while Mone and May seem more “desperate” to cling to them. That makes those belts feel more valuable.

There’s a saying about quarterbacks in football that can apply to championships in professional wrestling. “If you have two starting quarterbacks, then you really have zero starting quarterbacks.” AEW has so many championships that some feel less valuable than they are intended to be for both the fans and those competing each week.