AEW World Championship

AEW World Championship
First champion Chris Jericho
Details
PromotionAll Elite Wrestling
Date establishedMay 25, 2019
Current champion(s)Will Ospreay
Date wonAugust 30, 2026

The AEW World Championship is a professional wrestling championship in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is the top men's championship and the most important championship in AEW.

It is not a heavyweight championship because AEW doesn't have weight divisions.

History

The title was introduced by Bret Hart in a segment at Double or Nothing on May 29, 2022.

The first champion was Chris Jericho. Jericho defeated Adam Page in the main event of All Out.

During CM Punk's first reign as champion, he got injured and wanted to drop the championship. AEW president Tony Khan said that Punk would keep the championship but a new interim champion would be crowned after a tournament. The interim champion would then face Punk after he returned from injury to see who would become the undisputed champion. Jon Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door. Punk returned and lost to Moxley.

During his second reign, Punk had his title stripped from him and was suspended. This was because he had gotten into a real-life backstage fight with AEW's executive vice presidents. After a tournament, Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson at AEW Grand Slam to win the championship for a third time.

Current champion

Right now the champion is Will Ospreay, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating previous champion Kenny Omega at All In on August 30, 2026, in London, England.

Title history

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Chris Jericho August 31, 2019 All Out Hoffman Estates, IL 1 182 Defeated "Hangman" Adam Page to become the first champion.
2 Jon Moxley February 29, 2020 Revolution Chicago, IL 1 277
3 Kenny Omega December 2, 2020 Dynamite:
Winter Is Coming		 Jacksonville, FL 1 346
4 "Hangman" Adam Page November 13, 2021 Full Gear Minneapolis, MN 1 197
5 CM Punk May 29, 2022 Double or Nothing Paradise, NV 1 87
— Jon Moxley June 26, 2022 AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door Chicago, IL — 59 CM Punk was the original champion but got injured. Moxley became the interim champion after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in a tournament.
6 Jon Moxley August 24, 2022 Dynamite Cleveland, OH 2 11 Defeated original champion CM Punk to become the undisputed champion. This is recognized as Moxley's second reign by AEW.
7 CM Punk September 4, 2022 All Out Hoffman Estates, IL 2 3
— September 7, 2022 Dynamite Buffalo, NY The championship was stripped from CM Punk after Punk got into a real-life fight backstage and was suspended. After Punk returned to the company, he said that he was the "Real World Champion". AEW did not recognize the "Real World Championship" reign. Punk was fired after getting into another backstage fight.
8 Jon Moxley September 21, 2022 Dynamite:
Grand Slam		 Flushing, Queens, NY 3 59 Defeated Bryan Danielson in a tournament final for the vacant title.
9 MJF November 19, 2022 Full Gear Newark, NJ 1 1445 This was MJF's Casino Poker Chip cash-in match.
10 Samoa Joe December 30, 2023 Worlds End Uniondale, NY 1 113
11 Swerve Strickland April 21, 2024 Dynasty St. Louis, MO 1 125 Strickland became the first black wrestler to win the title.
12 Bryan Danielson August 25, 2024 All In London, England 1 48 This was a Title vs. Career match.
13 Jon Moxley October 12, 2024 WrestleDream Tacoma, WA 4 273 Since previous champion Bryan Danielson lost, his full-time wrestling career came to an end.
14 "Hangman" Adam Page July 12, 2025 All In: Texas Arlington, TX 2 134 This was a Texas Deathmatch. During this reign, the title was also unofficially called the AEW Men's World Championship as requested by Adam Page.
15 Samoa Joe November 22, 2025 Full Gear Newark, NJ 2 35 This was a Steel cage match.
16 MJF December 27, 2025 Worlds End Hoffman Estates, IL 2 109 This was a four-way match, also involving Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Adam Page. This was also MJF's Casino Gauntlet guaranteed championship match.
17 Darby Allin April 15, 2026 Dynamite: Spring BreakThru Everett, WA 1 39
18 MJF May 24, 2026 Double or Nothing Queens, NY 3 45 This was a Title vs. Hair match.
19 Kenny Omega July 8, 2026 Dynamite: Beach Break Clearwater, FL 2 53 This was a Last Chance match.
20 Will Ospreay August 30, 2026 All In London, England 1 65+

References

  1. ↑ "Tony Khan On His Wrestling Fandom Fueling AEW, Weight Classes, Women's Wrestling Diversity & More". ProWrestling.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Bret Hart Calls AEW Double Or Nothing Appearance A "One-Time Thing"". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "AEW Announces Multi-Stage Interim World Championship Eliminator Series". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  4. ↑ "AEW World Championship Vacated, New Champion Set To Be Crowned At 9/21 AEW Dynamite Grand Slam". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  5. ↑ "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam Results for September 21, 2022". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  6. ↑ "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Hangman Adam Page to become the first AEW Champion, Pentagon Jr. and Fenix vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AAA Tag Titles, Cody vs. Shawn Spears, Kenny Omega vs. Pac". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  7. ↑ "AEW Revolution results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Titles, Cody vs. MJF, Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship, Pac vs. Orange Cassidy". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  8. ↑ "12/02 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship, Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal, Chris Jericho vs. Frankie Kazarian, Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks, Britt Baker vs. Leyla Hirsch". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  9. ↑ "AEW Full Gear results: Barnett's live review of Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship, Bryan Danielson vs. Miro in the eliminator tournament finals, Penta and Rey Fenix vs. FTR for the AEW Tag Titles, CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston, Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti for the AEW Women's Title, Darby Allin vs. MJF". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  10. ↑ "AEW Double Or Nothing results: Powell's live review of Hangman Page vs. CM Punk for the AEW Championship, MJF vs. Wardlow, Thunder Rosa vs. Serena Deeb for the AEW Women's Title, Owen Hart Cup tournament finals, The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus vs. Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland for the AEW Tag Titles". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  11. ↑ "AEW-NJPW Forbidden Door results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Interim AEW World Title, Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's Title, Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy for the IWGP U.S. Title". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  12. ↑ "8/24 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley for the unified AEW World Championship, Death Triangle vs. Will Ospreay and Aussie Open in an AEW Trios Title tournament match, Dax Harwood vs. Jay Lethal, Billy Gunn vs. Colten Gunn, Britt Baker vs. KiLynn King, Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia meeting". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  13. ↑ "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson, Ricky Starks vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry vs. Christian Cage, Casino Ladder Match". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  14. ↑ "9/7 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Tony Khan addressing the status of the AEW World Championship and AEW Trios Titles, MJF's return promo, Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure Rules Title, Death Triangle vs. Best Friends, Interim AEW Women's Champ Toni Storm vs. Penelope Ford in an eliminator match". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  15. ↑ "CM Punk Takes His 'Real' AEW World Championship Out Of The Bag, Spray Paints It With An 'X'". Fightful. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Breaking: CM Punk Finished In AEW". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  17. ↑ "9/21 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson for the vacant AEW World Championship, Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee vs. The Acclaimed for the AEW Tag Titles, Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Jericho for the ROH Title, Toni Storm vs. Athena vs. Britt Baker vs. Serena Deeb for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Pac vs. Orange Cassidy for the AEW All-Atlantic Title". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  18. ↑ "AEW Full Gear results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. MJF for the AEW World Championship, The Acclaimed vs. Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee for the AEW Tag Titles, Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Death Triangle vs. The Elite for the AEW Trios Titles, Saraya vs. Britt Baker". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  19. ↑ Powell, Jason (December 30, 2023). "AEW Worlds End results: Powell's live review of MJF vs. Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship, Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley to become the first AEW Triple Crown Champion". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  20. ↑ Powell, Jason (April 21, 2024). "AEW Dynasty results: Powell's live review of Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship, Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson, FTR vs. Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AEW Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
  21. ↑ "AEW All In results: Powell's live review of Swerve Strickland vs. Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. Mariah May for the AEW Women's Championship". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  22. ↑ Powell, Jason (October 12, 2024). "AEW WrestleDream results: Powell's live review of Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the AEW International Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  23. ↑ https://www.sescoops.com/news/aew/tony-khan-on-changing-aew-world-title/
  24. ↑ Powell, Jason (July 12, 2025). "AEW All In Texas results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page in a Texas Death Match for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. TBS Champion Mercedes Mone for the AEW Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on July 16, 2025. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
  25. ↑ Powell, Jason (November 22, 2025). "AEW Full Gear results: Powell's live review of Hangman Page vs. Samoa Joe in a steel cage match for the AEW World Championship, Kris Statlander vs. Mercedes Mone for the AEW Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  26. ↑ Lambert, Jeremy (December 28, 2025). "MJF Wins AEW World Title At AEW Worlds End". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 9, 2026. Retrieved December 28, 2025.
  27. ↑ Russell, Skylar (April 15, 2026). "Darby Allin Defeats MJF To Win AEW World Championship At AEW Dynamite Spring BreakThru". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 20, 2026. Retrieved April 16, 2026.
  28. ↑ Nason, Josh (May 24, 2026). "MJF retains hair & regains World title at AEW Double or Nothing, Kevin Knight turns heel". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  29. ↑ Russell, Skylar (July 8, 2026). "Kenny Omega Defeats MJF To Win AEW World Championship On AEW Dynamite Beach Break". Fightful. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
  30. ↑ Nason, Josh (August 30, 2026). "Will Ospreay defeats Kenny Omega, wins World title at AEW All In 2026". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved August 31, 2026.

Other websites