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AEW entered Year 2 of their promotion in 2020 with plenty of momentum. After being the talk of professional wrestling in 2019, this year would give the company a full year of AEW Dynamite and four traditional pay-per-views. The AEW World Championship was established as one of the most prestigious titles in the business, but 2020 would also give the performers more prizes to obtain.
The TNT Championship introduced a secondary title that was not always used in the same way as the Intercontinental or United States Titles are presented in WWE. As Cody Rhodes calls it "the Ace Title", this championship helped to put a spotlight on underutilized talent and brought top independent stars into the promotion.
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These two top titles, along with high profile feuds, helped bolster the singles division. In this article, let's take a look at the top five best male superstars in AEW for 2020.
Honorable mentions:
- Hangman Page
- Brodie Lee
- Eddie Kingston
#5 Orange Cassidy - AEW superstar
No one took a bigger step in notoriety and popularity in AEW this year than Orange Cassidy. Starting as the aloof side act of Best Friends, Cassidy only had spurts of excellence to start off his time in the promotion. However, this year became a time of discovery for fans, that there was a lot more to this hands in pockets character.
At AEW Revolution, Orange Cassidy nearly stole the show against PAC. His in-ring singles debut became a showcase of the overwhelming skills that Orange had. PAC made a fantastic foil to his character, and Cassidy's comeback brought the most electric reaction outside of the main event and tag team scene that the promotion heard all year.
Orange's standout feud of the year had to be his clashes and interactions with Chris Jericho. The comedy and timing of these two men's exchanges brought a new level of investment into who Cassidy was. Their debate with Eric Bischoff as moderator was the highlight of their promos with one another.
Their matches varied from fine to great with their initial encounter at AEW Fyter Fest Night 2 being the best of the bunch. The fire that Cassidy brought in these matches added layers to his character. His victory over "Le Champion" in a Mimosa Mayhem Match at All Out showed the fans that Orange was a star on the rise for the company and that he stands as a breakout star in 2020.
#4 MJF - Former AEW No. 1 Contender
Another rising homegrown star for AEW in 2020 was Maxwell Jacob Friedman, better known as MJF. 2020 showed another year of increasing improvement and progression in the 24-year-old superstar. The self-proclaimed Face of AEW saw bitter rivalries and the biggest matches of his young career this year.
MJF started 2020 in a deeply personal feud with his former mentor, "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes. The "10 Lashes" on the February 5th AEW Dynamite was among the most emotional segments in all of wrestling this year. This expertly built to the payoff at Revolution where MJF sneaked out a victory.
Winning his first major feud propelled MJF to be seen among the top stars in the promotion. He then had an underrated classic against Jungle Boy at Double Or Nothing. The two young stars had an old school-based battle that used the innovative offense of Jungle Boy and more ground-based repertoire of MJF to great success.
This win continued a streak that saw MJF as an undefeated No. 1 Contender to the AEW World Championship. His campaign speech on the July 29th Dynamite was one of the very best promos of the year. This firmly established Friedman as the top heel and formidable successor to Jon Moxley as the top champion in the promotion. Their main event bout at All Out was bloody and physically intense. This delivered and showed that MJF was a bonafide headliner for AEW.
His last pay-per-view appearance saw Maxwell defeat Chris Jericho at Full Gear to join the Inner Circle stable. This followed one of the most talked about and divisive wrestling segments of the year with "Le Dinner Debonair". From marvelous promos to stellar matches, MJF brought everything fans could want in one of the top performers of 2020.
#3 Cody Rhodes - Former AEW TNT Champion
Cody Rhodes came into 2020 with the obstacle of being a top babyface star who could not vie for the AEW World Championship. Although this ceiling could have been insurmountable for some, the American Nightmare thrived in his roles this year. He started things out in the emotionally driven saga against MJF. The segments leading up to their AEW Revolution clash were among the most stirring on Dynamite.
Following his loss to Friedman at the pay-per-view, Rhodes was confronted by Jake The Snake Roberts, who foreshadowed the introduction of Lance Archer. Cody and Archer met in the TNT Championship Finals with Rhodes winning at AEW Double Or Nothing.
From there, Cody went on quite the successful run of solid TNT Championship matches against the likes of Sonny Kiss, Jungle Boy and Marq Quen. He even used the title as a vehicle to introduce new stars to AEW in Eddie Kingston and Ricky Starks. "The Ace Title" was a consistent highlight of Dynamite throughout the summer.
His loss of the gold and subsequent feud with Dark Order's Brodie Lee was enthralling and led to a dramatic payoff. The Dog Collar blowoff was a beautifully brutal war that had hard chain shots, broken tables and massive amounts of blood. The old school nature of this brawl made for one of the most unforgettable TV matches of 2020.
Cody Rhodes closed out the year with a refined storytelling battle against Darby Allin at Full Gear. His elevation of the younger star once again displayed that the Prince of Pro Wrestling was a master in making future stars in AEW. 2021 should be a standout for the former TNT Champion with his role in the Sting storyline, but 2020 was yet another year that proved himself as the top star WWE denied him to be.
#2 Kenny Omega - AEW World Champion
Since the inception of All Elite Wrestling, there have been many conversations among fans that they were not seeing the Kenny Omega of old. The Best Bout Machine spent 2019 putting over the future AEW World Champions of Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley, while working with the undercard talent. 2020 took a turn where Omega was featured in the best storyline in the promotion.
The formation of Omega and Hangman Page's tag team was at the center of the biggest and best matches and moments of 2020 for AEW. Their title defenses against Lucha Brothers and Young Bucks were both exceptional encounters that elevated the AEW World Tag Team Titles to the same level of the main gold in the promotion.
The Elite members were also huge parts of the stunning spectacle that was the Stadium Stampede Match at AEW Double Or Nothing. Hangman and Omega teamed with the Bucks and Matt Hardy against The Inner Circle in this cinematic masterpiece. This contest followed another crazy brawl in the Street Fight where Omega teamed with Matt Hardy to face Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara on the May 6th episode of Dynamite.
Omega also took part in arguably the greatest AEW Dynamite match of the show's history in his splendid Iron Man Match against PAC. For over 30-minutes, Omega and PAC provided fans with awe-inspiring sequences and spots in a thrilling exhibition of two of the best wrestlers in the world. The Cleaner also had underrated TV gems against Trent and Penta El Zero M.
The Page and Omega feud came to a head at Full Gear in a tremendous opener where The Cleaner defeated his former partner to win the World Title Eliminator tournament. This led to Omega completing his slow burn heel turn at "Winter Is Coming" by aligning with Don Callis to screw Jon Moxley and win the AEW World Championship.
With amazing performances, a beautifully told story with Hangman Page and an AEW World Title win, Kenny Omega has made his mark as the best in-ring worker for AEW of 2020. There was only one competitor who could truly make the argument that he had a more well-rounded and superior year than Omega.
#1 Jon Moxley - Former AEW World Champion
When Jon Moxley came to AEW, he wanted to reshape his image and show the entire wrestling world that he could truly be a top star for a promotion. Although 2019 featured many highs for the Purveyor of Violence, it was only foreshadowing for the major heights he would achieve this year.
Starting the year with a highly entertaining feud with "Le Champion" Chris Jericho, Moxley showed that he could thrive in the chase mode that makes all great babyfaces. His win at AEW Revolution was a cathartic moment and felt well deserved. This was one of the last images for the promotion prior to the global pandemic that changed wrestling this year.
Moxley responded to the changes in the industry with new vigor in every promo. Everything that the champ said from here on out felt real and carried emphasis. His foreshadowing of every title defense and delivering on promises made him one of the best and most protected babyfaces in years.
His incredible AEW World Championship matches against Brodie Lee, Brian Cage, Darby Allin and MJF were all unique to one another with each telling distinct stories. Each win not only elevated Moxley and the title, but also his opponents in defeat. This led to Moxley being ranked No. 1 in the PWI500. Then came his magnificent rivalry with former friend, Eddie Kingston.
The two friends turned enemies put on two engrossing AEW World Title bouts and delivered some of the most entrancing promos in all of wrestling. This deeply personal war of words felt authentic and became the talk of the promotion. Kingston was universally recognized as the main event talent that he had been for years on the independents, while Moxley showed why he left WWE for greener pastures.
His AEW World Championship loss to Kenny Omega at "Winter Is Coming" brought a dramatic end to the greatest title reign in AEW's short history. Whether on the mic, in the ring or how he presented himself, Jon Moxley was the best male superstar in All Elite Wrestling and possibly in the entire wrestling landscape.
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