Jericho was over the hill but he was good for his pedigree
Moxley and Omega actually felt important and it was during their reigns that AEW felt like it could be an actual competitor to WWE.
Hangmaam was technically the champion during AEW's hottest period, but it's not a coincidence that things began to immediately cool off after his run.
Phil was an unmitigated disaster that killed the company.
If Phil was the bullet wound that lead to AEW's demise, MJF was the sepsis that crept in and actually did the deed through slow rot. He was not ready to be the focal point of a company, and he showed that he might never be. God knows why they kept the belt on him for so long.
Joe is just clearly a transitional champ, I guess his name has some weight, but especially at this stage in his career, it feels like they put the belt on a midcarder. It's kinda like in All Japoop and NOAH when they'll randomly put the belt on one of the Nooj dads whose heyday was 20 years ago.
Swerve is at least youngerish and his career has been obscure and fleeting enough that he doesn't have any kind of stink on him. I guess he's an okay choice but he's not really an exciting one, it's pretty evident they need to put the belt on Ospreay ASAP before he invariably injures himself and sabotages how over he is right now.
