*This blog post was started on June 22, 2025.
It has been great for me that AEW is now streaming on Max. Between my 50-hour work week and my efforts to build the "I Dig Crazy Flicks" brand, "Dynamite" is my priority when it comes to must see television, but there are weeks when I still miss that. One of those weeks featured the announcement that the AEW International Championship (held by Kenny Omega) and the Continental Championship (held by Kazuchika Okada) will be unified as the Unified Championship at the All In pay-per-view on July 12. Personally, I think that this is a bad idea.
In my peripheral vision, the most recent NJPW Dominion is playing. New Japan is getting a little goofy as they try and be relevant to audiences that favor American theatrics, but the emphasis is still on treating wrestling as a true sport. I think back to Wrestle Kingdom 13 (2019) and was impressed that they only had one "grudge" match on the card. That mean only one bout did not have a championship on the line, and that was between the greatest IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Okada, and the man who would defeat the winner of that title's match before the month of January concluded, Switchblade Jay White. Thus, only champions, contenders, and the larger than life would be featured on the promotion's biggest card. If you were just good, you did not get that pay day. And that is how I think the sport should be?
I am glad that Sunderland has recently returned to the English Premier League because I want Newcastle United to beat them back to the Championship. But would I want them to be playing in the Major League of English Football because every major city should be represented in a pro sports league? We need not celebrate the Chicago White Sox.
Obviously, with my blog "The Disgruntled's Real Championship Wrestling", I am a fan of championships anyhow, but after that card, if booked correctly, you cannot have too many. It is my opinion that every television show should have a championship match. That way, Mercedes Mone would not be able to be a belt collector. How is she going to defend weekly? Tony Khan gave her too much in that contract.
Before I get back to the unification bout in Texas, I need to write more wrestling blogs. There is still the tertiary championship to determine and now we have secondary women's championships. If only I resisted buying a Switch 2, this would be a priority.
Bringing up the tertiary championship, I am going to miss the Continental Championship which is being retired. What makes a great third-tier championship is a different rule set. Sadly, pro-wrestling is an artistic sport, not a competitive one. We are never going to consider the Junior Heavyweight and Middleweight Championships on the same level as the Heavyweight. But let it be known, "The Student of the Game" Russ Stevens reign as Next Generation Wrestling's (Peoria, IL) Light Heavyweight Championship was probably superior to that of the Heavyweight Champion Apocolypse. And I will digress.
The Continental Championship gave us a more pure style of wrestling that AEW is further, and sadly further getting away from. There was no outside interference, so for at least 15 minutes a night, the show was free of gaga. Now, we are only guaranteed that six weeks a year. But I now wonder, will the Continental Classic end with a briefcase like the G1 Climax. If you want the dumbest thing that NJPW took from the West, that is it.
I think I have declared that the Continental Championship is a tertiary title at best, but I came into this blog thinking about with the International Championship as the belt I did not want to see go. If it was my preference, the title would still be called the All-Atlantic Championship, but I was an English major, so I dig hyphens.
The reason I was focused on the belt that Orange Cassidy established is that I think it may have surpassed the TNT Championship as the second best belt in AEW. It was the first belt that had its champion challenge the AEW World Champion. An argument against this suggestion is that the TNT Champion was the most recent challenger, but you cannot sell a Jack Perry fan like myself that he is better than Will Ospreay.
So before the belt is gone, it is best to address who the real champions in wrestling truly are.
The Disgruntled's Real World Champions of Pro-Wrestling:
Title Histories from September 26, 2024 to June 22, 2025.
The 109th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Champion:
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion: Hirooki Goto
His reign began when he defeated Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship/DRCW World Championship on February 11, 2025.
I did not think that Goto was in a position to beat ZSJ. He is 46 years-old and was never the star of the CHAOS faction. One can only expect that whoever takes the belt off of him will be the face of a new era of greatness like when Okada passed up the Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Hope might be a better term than expect. Regardless of the verb, whoever takes the belt off of John Cena is just going to be one of the same sport entertainers who have been there the past two decades.
The 108th Disgruntled's Real World Champion:
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre Jr.
His reign began when Mark Briscoe lost the ROH Championship to Chris Jericho on October 23, 2024.
Another opinion that I seem to be sharing with the minority. Chris Jericho is not a good person (You cannot be if you are a voice for Trump.), but he is still one of the most entertaining wrestlers. The Learning Tree was another reinvention that nobody thought would work, but when I saw him wrestle at the State Farm Center in August, his "Hi Guys!" seemed as over as "Yeet!". If that will get you WWE gold, imagine what Jericho deserves.
I also loved the first title shot that Bandido had against the Nueve. The rematch that resulted in the title change was a bit of bollocks.
But he is not the Technical Wizard. He is not the Submission Master. He is not Z(ed)SJ, the best technical wrestler in the world.
The only flaw with this title history is that ZSJ won the top IWGP prize two days after Bryan Danielson, the greatest technical wrestler, lost his AEW prize.
You have to acknowledge that the first gaijin to win a Wrestle Kingdom main event (as the champion on top of that) is a greater accomplishment than anything Cody Rhodes has done.
The 107th Disgruntled's Real World Champion:
ROH World Champion: Mark Briscoe
His reign began when Bryan Danielson lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley on October 12, 2024.
There were no challenges to Cody Rhodes that made me want to tune in to WWE programming. I did watch the Royal Rumble, so I saw his second defense against Kevin Owens. My cheers were for Owens, but since he came into that bout as challenger on the last major card before WrestleMania, there were no expectations that he would win. Heartbreak was going to be the result.
The only way that the story would work was for Cody to win the championship back from Owens. Since this history is being written with six months of hindsight, neither Owens nor Rhodes would be DRCW World Champion. Swapping a championship rarely wins me over.
That is why Jon Moxley did not regain the DRCW World Championship. He had a lackluster program for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship with Tetsuya Naito resulting in a title swap. Neither the Moxley victory nor defeat happened in Japan. As I watch Dominion, I saw a street fight with all of the House of Torture running interference and highlights of a crazy cage war which I never associated with the promotion. Gabe Kidd and Yota Tsuji are impressing me and the G1 Climax starts tomorrow, but those prior events leave me wondering if I should keep my NJPW World subscription.
I happen to like the Death Riders story in AEW. If Moxley retains at All In, that would not offend me because I think we all want to see Darby Allin be the guy to get the title next. If not Allin, then everybody's favorite loud mouth in wrestling, Eddie Kingston. Thus, the man who beat the man whom we want to be the man is most qualified to be champ. Hence, Mark Briscoe.
The 51st and Current Modern Poser Champion:
WWE World Champion: Gunther
His reign began when he defeated Jey Uso for the WWE World Championship/DRCW Modern Poser Championship on June 16, 2025.
The 50th Modern Poser Champion:
WWE World Champion: Jey Uso
His reign began when John Cena defeated Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship on April 20, 2025.
The Undisputed WWE Championship at least has been part of the lineage of the DRCW World Championship. Monday Night Raw's current top prize was a consolation prize when they allowed Roman Reigns to not work a champion's schedule.
Gunther is an awesome force. He is the best performer in the promotion, and he lost his barely established championship to a tag team wrestler who ended up with a catchphrase. You can call Goto's title reign a career achievement award, but he had done it all aside from winning the top prize. Uso has had only a year at best to prove he is a singles wrestler. If the sheets are right, he failed.
The 55th and Current Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AEW Women's World Champion: "Timeless" Toni Storm
Her third reign began when she defeated Mariah May for the AEW Women's World Championship/DRCW Women's World Championship on February 15, 2025.
I know that I have spoken ill of swapping championships, but the Hollywood Ending made her trilogy with May the best the business has had since Okada/Omega.
The 161th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Champions:
AEW World Tag Team Champions: Shelton Benjamin & Bobby Lashley: The Hurt Syndicate
Their reign began when they defeated Private Party for the AEW World Tag Team Championship/DRCW World Tag Team Championship on January 22, 2025.
The 160th Real World Tag Team Champions:
AEW World Tag Team Champions: Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen
Their reign began when they defeated The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship/DRCW World Tag Team Championship on October 30, 2024.
The 176th and Current Disgruntled's Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions:
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara: The Sons of Texas
Their reign began when The War Raiders defeated the Finn Balor and JD McDonagh for the WWE World Tag Team Championship on December 16, 2024.
Outside of Japan, the tag team scene is strong. The Hardy Boys were TNA Champions (brothers) and were defeated by Nick and Ryan Nemmeth (brothers). When The War Raiders lost their titles, they lost them to what was the greatest WWE tag team, The New Day. Aside from The Bloodline, Smackdown is under the control of great indie teams and an NXT standout. It is tough to find a hodge podge pairing.
Rhodes and Guevara are great, but creative had nothing for them on AEW.
