One huge difference between WWE and AEW is that the latter has made it clear managers will be an important part of their product. Tony Khan running the show provides a lifelong wrestling fan who loves a mix of the old school wrestling along with the modern improvements in the ring. This provides the ideal scenario for talents to improve with a manager at their side.
AEW has utilized many legends in the manager role to get their overall character skills and promo work to benefit a young star today. Each manager has a different style that matches the wrestler they represent. Find out which ones are standing out above the rest when it comes to this unique job in wrestling. The AEW managers will be ranked from worst to best.
10 Leva Bates
The Librarians gimmick features the duo of Peter Avalon and Leva Bates playing the comedic heels trying to silence the crowd. Most of the matches feature Avalon wrestling with Bates managing him in losing fashion.
The pair rarely appear on Dynamite and provide the depth to add some entertaining matches on the Dark online show. Leva is a solid manager, but it’s just one of her multiple roles as she works behind the scenes.
9 Kip Sabian
Real-life couple Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford have delivered many great segments for AEW in recent months. Both wrestlers have started managing each other instead of the established roles of Penelope managing Sabian.
The taped shows during the quarantine saw Ford and Sabian step up when the roster was limited. Sabian started to impress outside of the ring for the first time when managing Penelope during her push. Sabian's heel antics put him over the top as a compelling character while helping Ford in the AEW women's division matches.
8 Penelope Ford
Penelope Ford initially joined AEW with Joey Janela when the two were dating and working together. The end of their relationship saw Ford becoming the manager of Kip Sabian as AEW started to build new characters.
Ford now manages both Sabian and his tag team partner Jimmy Havoc in the Superbad Squad. The in-ring role of Ford has improved with a top heel spot in the women’s division, but she also is still thriving as a manager and is among the best at getting involved in matches behind the ref’s back.
7 Orange Cassidy
AEW used Orange Cassidy primarily as a manager for the first few months of the Dynamite television show. Fans loved the antics of Cassidy in the ring, but he was mostly at ringside with the Best Friends tag team.
The recent success of Cassidy in all metrics like ratings, online views, and merchandise sales has him only behind Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley in those numbers. Cassidy still manages Chuck Taylor and Trent, but it has become secondary to his own wrestling career.
6 Allie
Allie was among the best overall performers in Impact Wrestling before making the move to AEW. There have been some struggles for her to find the ideal role when bouncing from a face wrestler to a heel manager.
Many would argue Allie was the strong suit of the Butcher and the Blade tag team, but she’s now moved into a new angle with QT Marshall. Allie is playing a great heel character trying to manipulate Marshall into doing her bidding as friction grows during his tag team with Dustin Rhodes.
5 Brandi Rhodes
The other manager involved in the drama with Allie, QT Marshall, and Dustin Rhodes is Brandi Rhodes. AEW struggled to find the right on-air role for Brandi over its first few months after the Nightmare Collective faction with Awesome Kong failed to work out.
Brandi has found more success as a face managing Dustin and QT as part of the Nightmare Family. However, the addition of Allie as a heel has given them both a bigger story with fun segments between the two managers.
4 Arn Anderson
WWE released Arn Anderson in 2019 in order to make their production team younger, a decision that gave AEW another respected legend. Anderson always had a close relationship with Cody Rhodes that now bonds them together on television.
Rhodes has started to find more success with Anderson representing him at ringside. Anderson even comes to the ring with a clipboard showing graphs of the research he has conducted for each match. Fans have speculated about a potential Four Horsemen reboot due to the success of Anderson and Rhodes together.
3 Tully Blanchard
Another wrestling legend to find his way to AEW was Tully Blanchard. The in-ring genius was hired by AEW early in the company’s run as the manager of Shawn Spears during his feud with Cody Rhodes.
Blanchard helped Spears find more relevance since his presence instantly added more credibility to the picture. The future of the tandem is unknown, but they filmed a great segment recently that saw Blanchard give Spears a wakeup call following a few losses.
2 Taz
ECW legend Taz was one of Tony Khan’s favorite wrestlers as a teenager to the point of begging for family trips to Philadelphia to attend live shows. Taz has only been used as a broadcaster in wrestling since retiring from the ring.
AEW has found a way to keep Taz at commentary for the Dark show while also giving him a bigger role on Dynamite. Taz is managing Brian Cage and has already made him relevant with some stellar promos calling out Jon Moxley. Fans are getting a reminder of why Taz was viewed as a stellar promo and intimidating presence in ECW.
1 Jake Roberts
Jake Roberts is considered one of the smartest wrestling minds in the business. His promo skills, character work, and overall wrestling psychology helped make Roberts a huge success in the ‘80s, delivering results ahead of his time.
AEW is the first promotion to effectively use him as a manager, with Roberts representing Lance Archer. Roberts’ promos were the high points of the Archer vs Cody Rhodes feud for the TNT Championship. These great segments proved Roberts can be a superb manager for Archer and anyone else AEW places with him.