Bully Ray Lays Out His Issues With AEW's Ranking System

In January 2024, AEW President Tony Khan announced that he would be bringing the ranking system back to the company following the success of the Continental Classic tournament that adopted a more sports-centric aesthetic. These rankings led to the likes of Sting and Darby Allin winning the AEW World Tag Team Championship, and both Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Adam Page becoming number one contenders to the AEW World Championship. However, those rankings have been quietly dropped for a second time, leading some to wonder why they were brought back in the first place. On "Busted Open Radio," WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray touched on what he thought of AEW's ranking system, and how he believes that in the end, they were more of a detriment to the company's creative direction than a benefit.

"All the rankings do is pigeonhole creative," Bully said. "Rankings have not worked from day one in AEW. Then we get the rankings and then they go away, then we get the rankings and then this last go-around a couple of months ago, where Tony Khan was putting the rankings up once every month. I believe we saw them for two months and then they went away again. The rankings in AEW mean absolutely zero, nothing, nil, garbage, throw them away. They're only hurting you and your ability to do whatever the hell you want and be creative with your roster."

Bully's co-host, ECW legend Tommy Dreamer, had previously admitted that he did like the rankings since it gave fans a simple reason to explain why two people are wrestling each other. However, he did state that he didn't fully understand all the rules as to why people with worse records placed higher than people who hadn't lost a match.

Please credit "Busted Open Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription,