Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
It’s Christmas Eve Day, and I’d like to bring back an EWN tradition of mine with the Naughty or Nice List of 2024. Essentially, my question for you today is “Who do you think were the top heels and babyfaces this year in AEW?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
I wish I could say MJF was one of the best heels again as per usual, but not this year. This stuff with Adam Cole just isn’t hitting the same. Maybe 2025 will play out better.
Some honorable mentions, though, would be Don Callis as the overall heat magnet of his whole faction and the one who gets the best reactions, as well as a driving force with this whole screwdriver gimmick. I’d give a major shout out to Christian Cage as one of the most entertaining people on the mic who never fails to cut a great heel promo. I’d almost give this to Jon Moxley, and I did for my Smark Out Moment end of the year awards, but the more I think about it, the more it annoys me that this whole plan the Death Riders keep talking about is going nowhere and is reminding me of so many WWE angles (especially ones with Bray Wyatt) in that it’s a lot of precursor and generic language that doesn’t really mean anything at all, has less merit and weight behind it the longer this gets stretched out while going nowhere, and I’m starting to assume it’s as flawed as the Elite takeover angle. But in theory, he did take out Bryan Danielson in brutal fashion and is beating up the roster, so he’s the top heel right now.
But I’ll give top heel to Adam Page. Hangman burned down Swerve Strickland’s house and jammed a needle into his cheek and all. He’s lost it several times and has spent the year being unhinged.
On the babyface side of things, there are a few who are all in contention and did a great job as perennial people to cheer.
Shout out to Willow Nightingale, Mark Briscoe, Will Ospreay, and Swerve.
But my bronze medal goes to Danielson. He’d be higher if the competition wasn’t strong and if he hadn’t been the target to get punked out.
Runner up goes to Orange Cassidy. He’s always doing the right thing, even if he has to go against his former Best Friends teammate Trent, opposed The Learning Tree, and has spearheaded the fight against Death Riders.
The only person who has done just that much and better/more to win the gold medal for this is Darby Allin. He’s being positioned as the guy to beat Moxley, fought against The Elite, and helped retire Sting in a proper way.
[BEST]: Darby Allin
- Bryan Danielson
- Orange Cassidy
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
