Top 10 Best AEW Wrestlers of 2022
2022 was one wild year for professional wrestling, especially in All Elite Wrestling. The company which was founded 3 years ago has seen a lot of growth this year, especially after the purchase of beloved indie wrestling promotion Ring of Honor, and of course all the drama that came after the company's All Out pay-per-view. Let's see which AEW wrestlers managed to stand out and make the most of the year 2022.Please note that tag team duos are eligible for this list as both superstars tend to perform equally all year.
Jonathan "Jon" Good is an American professional wrestler and actor, signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Jon Moxley. He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he won the IWGP United States Championship. He previously worked for WWE under the ring name Dean Ambrose, where he is a former WWE Champion, United States Champion, Intercontinental Champion and Raw Tag Team Champion. Jon Moxley is by far the number 1 wrestler for AEW this year, there's even an argument to be made that he carried the company on his back for most of 2022. Mox has done it all in 2022, he became AEW World Champion twice, was one of the most active and successful on the roster this year with 41 wins and 3 losses. His first title reign and run as Interim Champion was especially fun as he put on great matches weekly getting the fans firmly behind him to the point that crowds were more divided than ever during his feud with other fan favorite CM Punk. His promos and character work were especially impressive this year as well, which surely should make any wrestling fan excited to see what Moxley will have in store for 2023.
Bryan Lloyd Danielson is an American professional wrestler best known for his tenure in WWE under the ring name Daniel Bryan. He is a five time WWE world champion. Bryan Danielson was one of the best in-ring performers of the year like always. Although he picked up an injury during the first half of the year, Danielson quickly bounced back with two great matches against Daniel Garcia. He had other great bouts throughout the year against the likes of Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Dax Harwood. A highlight of the year was certainly being part of the Blackpool Combat Club alongside Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta and their mentor William Regal.
2022 was Jamie Hayter's breakout year as she became AEW Women's World Champion and becoming one of the most popular women in the company, thanks to her charisma and great in-ring performances. Given that AEW is seemingly struggling to manage their women's division correctly, it's nice to see that someone as talented as Jamie Hayter was given the chance to show what she can do. 2023 will be an interesting year for the "Ace of Eve".
Maxwell Jacob Freedman continues to wow the audience with his ability to make people feel something towards him when he's using a microphone, which is mostly hate of course. MJF spent a good chunk of the year on a hiatus with fans not knowing what was real and what was a work following his pipebomb promo on Dynamite where he verbally destroyed the company and it's owner. He returned later in the year at All Out and, after earning a shot at the world title, defeated Jon Moxley to cap off the year as AEW World Champion.
FTR are one of the best tag teams in the world right now and 2022 was a truly exceptional year for the duo, having held three championships at the same time, those being the AAA World Tag Team Championship, the ROH World Tag Team Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Unfortunately they did not get to win the AEW Tag Team titles this year, but they still had a remarkable year in the promotion by being involved in big storylines involving the likes of CM Punk, The Elite, MJF and others. Their in ring work is especially good and the team gets a lot of praise from fans and people in the industry for bringing back that old school style of wrestling.
Phillip Jack "Phil" Brooks, also known by the ring name CM Punk, is an American comic book writer, actor, upcoming mixed martial artist and retired professional wrestler who is signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
He is best known for his career In World Wrestling Entertainment. He had multiple title reigns over multiple titles. While he was in the WWE, he was the leader of the New Nexus. His finishing maneuvers were the Go To Sleep (GTS) and the Anaconda Vise, many of his other moves were bulldogs, shining wizards, etc. Putting the drama that came after the All Out pay-per-view aside, CM Punk's year was memorable and one of the most compelling stories of the year with Punk losing the ring rust and becoming the Best in the World once again. His rivalries against MJF and Jon Moxley are some of AEW's best produced matches and content so far in the young company's history. CM Punk also added more gold to his career with two reigns as AEW World Champion during his rivalry with Jon Moxley. Now 2023 has arrived and eyes are on Punk once again, what will he do next?
Christopher Keith Irvine, better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is a Canadian-American professional wrestler, musician, media personality, actor, author, and businessman, currently signed to AEW. Chris Jericho is 52 years old and he is still putting out great matches and reinventing himself. A lot happened in 2022, first and foremost, Jericho dissolved the stable he was leading up until that point, The Inner Circle, and formed The Jericho Appreciation Society with the members being Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, 2.0, Sammy Guevara, Tay Melo, and Anna Jay. The group had matches against former Inner Circle members Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz, as well as the Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Brian Danielson). It's during that time that Jericho brought back his "Lionheart" persona, which he used back in the old days of WCW. At Dynamite: Grand Slam on September 21st, Jericho shockingly defeated Claudio Castagnoli to win the ROH World Championship for the first time in his career. He successfully defended the title against many former ROH champions, such as Dalton Castle, Colt Cabana, Tomohiro Ishii and Bandido before losing it back to Claudio Castagnoli.
Toni Storm made her debut from AEW on the March 30th episode of Dynamite in 2022 and ever since then she had proven to be one of the best signings the promotion has made for their women's division. It didn't take long for her to earn a title opportunity at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view against the then champion Thunder Rosa. Storm lost that match, but at All Out, she defeated Baker, Hayter, and Hikaru Shida in a four-way match to become AEW Interim Women's World Champion, a reign that has since then become official given that Thunder Rosa couldn't come back to defend the title. She then defended her title against Athena, Baker, and Serena Deeb at Grand Slam. She lost her championship in a title match against Jamie Hayter at Full Gear. Overall a solid first year for Toni Storm, she sure made an impact following her departure from WWE, 2023 should hopefully be a good year for her as well.
Benjamin Satterley, better known by his ring name Pac, is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling, as well as working on the international independent circuit. He is also known for his six-year tenure in WWE from 2012 to 2018, where he competed under the ring name Neville. PAC had a solid year, the highlight of which happened in June when he participated in a tournament for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship and going on to the finals at Forbidden Door where he would defeat Malakai Black, Miro, and Clark Connors in a four-way tournament final to become the inaugural champion. That's not the only piece of gold PAC added to his shoulder in 2022 as he teamed up with the Lucha Brothers (the 3 of them calling themselves Death Triangle) on the September 7th, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite and defeated the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy) to win the vacant AEW World Trios Championship.
"Hangman" Adam Page started out the year very strong as he was AEW World Champion for the first 5 months. He had a great match against Bryan Danielson, defeated Lance Archer in a brutal Texas Death match and a couple of matches with Adam Cole. His title reign ended with his big match against CM Punk who won the title that night. Since then however, Page hasn't done much aside from competing in the Trios tournament with the Dark Order. Let's see what Adam Page will do to bounce back in 2023.
Tyson Smith, better known by his ring name Kenny Omega, is a Canadian professional wrestler with Japanese citizenship currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion in his first reign.
Saraya-Jade Bevis is an English professional wrestler and actress. She is signed to WWE, where she performs under the ring name Paige. ...read more. So happy to see her back in the ring again!
Tom Budgen is a Dutch professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Aleister Black. Prior to signing with WWE, Budgen worked for promotions across Europe, United States, and Japan, under the ring name Tommy End. He was released from WWE in June 2021. He then joined AEW under the ring name Malakai Black in July 2021.
Nuufolau Joel "Joe" Seanoa, better known by his ring name Samoa Joe, is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE and performing on NXT. He is most well known for his time in NXT, where he was a former two time NXT champion.
