Garnering much praise from fans and critics over the past three years, AEW has risen to prominence as the number two promotion within the wild world of professional wrestling.
With 2022 being the year that saw AEW face the most public issues of its existence yet, it would ultimately end up being a very mixed-bag year for the company as a whole. While some of those stemmed from backstage issues, others were due to the booking of the company's shows. With all roads in AEW coming from Tony Khan, these were the best and worst AEW booking decisions of 2022.
10 Pushing Toni Storm - Best
After failing to accomplish much during her multi-year run with WWE, Toni Storm would arrive on the scene in AEW during the early portion of 2022 as one of the hot new prospects for the company. Immediately making waves in the women's division, Toni would appear on AEW Dynamite, Rampage, Dark, and Dark: Elevation on a regular basis, becoming a standout star amongst the women's division.
From getting married to Juice Robinson, to launching her OnlyFans account, to putting on some of the best women's matches in AEW, Toni's 2022 would be a great one, with Tony Khan fully backing her. At All Out 2022, she would become AEW Women's World Champion before dropping the belt in one of the best matches of the year against Jamie Hayter at Full Gear.
9 Not Giving Jade Cargill More Matches On AEW Dark - Worst
While Jade Cargill remains an undefeated star in AEW, she has also become quite polarizing for fans. Some lament the fact that she is not as great in-ring as other women within the company, while others see her star power as a sign that she is exactly where she should be. Regardless, she is a green wrestler who still needs to improve.
This is something that made no sense in 2022, as AEW has two YouTube shows that are built around AEW talents beating unsigned wrestlers or jobbers, meaning Jade Cargill could have had more matches and gained more experience throughout 2022 had Tony Khan booked her for AEW Dark matches. She is only going to get better if she wrestles more, which is why it was a bad call on Khan to not give her more reps on Dark and Dark: Elevation.
8 Creating Swerve In Our Glory - Best
With Keith Lee debuting in a qualifying match for the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match during an episode of AEW Dynamite from Atlantic City, Swerve would then make his debut for the company at Revolution as a new signing. From there, Strickland and Lee would form a new tag-team called Swerve In Our Glory.
Originally fans saw this as a throwaway team being used to start a feud between Lee and Swerve, but it would not be the case. These two would slowly work their way up the tag division before defeating the Young Bucks to become AEW World Tag Team Champions, establishing themselves as one of the best teams in the world in 2022.
7 Jon Moxley Squashing CM Punk - Worst
Returning to television months after his initial injury, CM Punk vs Jon Moxley would be set for a Summer edition of AEW Dynamite, with the two men unifying the AEW World Championship. In shocking fashion, Punk would be utterly squashed by Moxley in one of the strangest booking decisions Tony Khan has ever made.
Following the match, Punk would again return and cut a promo teasing retirement before being talked out of it and hyped up by Ace Steel ahead of him challenging Jon Moxley for a rematch at AEW All Out. Punk would win the belt back, getting injured once more before having a public meltdown and being stripped of the championship. The squash match was a weird roadblock for the feud and it added very little, while making Punk look bad ahead of All Out.
6 Jamie Hayter Becomes Women's Champion - Best
After months of teasing dissension between she and Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter would not turn on Britt during AEW Grand Slam, instead, opting to re-align with Britt in a somewhat unsatisfying manner. That would fail to matter to fans however, as Jamie would only get more over in the following weeks, constantly getting the loudest reactions in the women's division and earning a title shot against Toni Storm.
At AEW Full Gear 2022, Hayter and Storm would steal the show in one of the best women's matches of 2022, and one of the best in AEW's history. Jamie Hayter would ascend the mountain and defeat Storm to become AEW Women's World Champion, giving the fans what they had been clamoring for in a truly great moment.
5 The TNT Championship - Worst
Being created in 2020, The TNT Championship has seen better days than it did in 2022. Kicking off the year with a brief program between Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara, the booking would immediately come into question before Cody's eventual exit from the company. Guevara would then be paired on-screen with his real-life partner, Tay Melo as the two became the most hated babyfaces in wrestling for a period, constantly flip-flopping between face and heel status on AEW TV.
Sammy and Scorpio Sky would feud, trading the TNT Championship back and forth in one of the worst feuds of the year, and likely one of the worst feuds in AEW history, before Sky would drop the belt to Wardlow, something most fans saw as a sign of change for the once prestigious belt. Wardlow's booking would then go downhill as he would rarely defend the belt and would instead feature in other storylines before ultimately dropping the belt to Samoa Joe, who so far, has had a very strong run at the end of 2022.
4 The Summer of Moxley - Best
After CM Punk would go down with an injury following his capture of the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing, a short tournament would be created to crown a new AEW World Champion. This would culminate in the main event of Forbidden Door, with Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi finally meeting in singles action as the two men would fight to become AEW Interim World Champion.
Moxley would win the match, becoming the Interim Champion in the process, before going on an incredible run for the rest of the Summer. Facing off against the likes of Chris Jericho, Konosuke Takeshita, Brody King, Rush, and Kyle O'Reilly, Moxley would help carry AEW through a rough summertime as many fans began wishing he would be seen as the true AEW World Champion.
3 The Undisputed Elite Implodes - Worst
In a move that now seems totally baffling, The Undisputed Elite would make their return to AEW Television in August 2022. Following Forbidden Door, a number of the group were injured, with Adam Cole suffering a concussion and O'Reilly suffering a neck injury, though this segment was still given the go-ahead. In it, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, and Bobby Fish would attack The Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler, turning their backs on The Elite in shocking fashion.
This was likely a set-up for the future with the former Undisputed Era being booked opposite The Elite, as Kenny Omega would return from injury shortly after, though with Kyle's neck injury keeping him on the shelf into 2023 and Cole's condition remaining an unknown, it just feels weird looking back on.
2 MJF vs CM Punk - Best
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While the ending of CM Punk's run in AEW left fans split, with some opting to side with the Voice for the Voiceless and others siding with AEW and The Elite, there is no denying that his first major feud of 2022 was one of the best of the year, in all of wrestling. In late 2021, MJF and CM Punk would begin a program with one another, one that would reach new levels in 2022.
From MJF defeating CM Punk twice in one night in Chicago, to MJF's incredibly endearing babyface promo about his origin story, to the bloody beatdown of CM Punk, the feud was a truly special one. It all culminated at AEW Revolution with the two meeting in a violent, bloody Dog Collar Match that exceeded expectations. At All Out 2022, MJF would end the show by seemingly setting up a future match with CM Punk for the AEW World Championship, though it would never happen.
1 Jericho Appreciation Society vs Blackpool Combat Club - Worst
Looking to reinvent himself again, Chris Jericho would form a parody faction of WWE Superstars, with him taking Sammy Guevara, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, Anna Jay, and Tay Melo under his wings. Elsewhere, William Regal would arrive in AEW to form the Blackpool Combat Club alongside Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson, later adding Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli to the mix.
The two factions would begin warring with one another in the Spring, with a feud that would last until the end of the year, spanning nearly 7 months. It was the dominant storyline within AEW during 2022 and it was one that left fans wanting to never see those involved face off again, despite some hot matches in the first few months.