Best PWG Champ?

[onlxn]

With all the discussion about Joey's reign, I thought this might be a fun topic. Interpret "greatest" however you like -- kayfabe achievements, match quality, presence, whatever. Who, in your opinion, is/was PWG's best top dog?

[SoCalAndy]

Listing my thoughts

Frankie's runs: The first run was a good way to establish the title. The second one wasn't that good. Not the best.

Adam Pearce's run: Only one successful defense, and that was his first one. His other two involved DQ finishes, and the entire run wasn't that entertaining aside from the Frankie angle.

Super Dragon's run: The second best run in my mind. Several awesome matches, and he was the first person to defend the title outside of PWG, and outside the US. Plus he had the 2nd most successful title defenses in the title's history.

AJ Styles' run: Put on a stinker with Daniels, decent match with Frankie, pretty good match with Gibson, and a "eh" match with Daniels and Gibson. There was nothing special about his run, plus two of them didn't

Kevin Steen's run: Outside of the two Bosh matches, his defenses didn't seem up to par with Dragon's title matches in my mind. Still, he had a better tun than Pearce, Styles, and Frankie's second run.

Joey Ryan's run: The best run in my mind. Some great chases for the belt, it helped give birth to The Dynasty, first champion to defend the belt outside of California in the US, defended it in three countries(US, England, Germany), has the most title defenses, has helped build up suspense amongst the fans about when he'll drop the title, and has been in the most dramatic title matches in PWG history.

So, if I had to rank the title runs, it'd go like this.

1. Joey Ryan
2. Super Dragon
3. Frankie Kazarian(1st run)
4. Kevin Steen
5. AJ Styles
6. Frankie Kazarian(2nd run)
7. Adam Pearce

[onlxn]

I generally agree with Andy's list, with the notable exception of our differing takes on SD's reign.

7. Frankie Kazarian (2nd reign)
Started great, and I think Frankie's a solid heel, but this never went anywhere -- he dropped the belt to SD before he even got a feud going with anyone.

6. Super Dragon
Went over this in the other thread... he had hit-or-miss matches, didn't give off a great "champ" vibe, in my mind, and didn't have any title feuds to speak of. He did have a great feud with Joe at the time, but it had nothing to do with the belt.

5. AJ Styles
Good draw, and over with the TNA faithful... but generally weak matches.

4. Adam Pearce
A weak reign with a fabulous payoff. I have no beef with that.

3. Frankie Kazarian (1st reign)
Frankie was a solid inaugural PWG champ: he worked hard both in and outside of the ring to get himself and his feuds over, had generally good matches, was a strong kayfabe champ. He was sort of missing that something extra, but it was a solid reign.

2. Joey Ryan
He almost takes it for me, because I think he's become a really stellar heel performer in the last couple months. He's over as hell, too, and he drew a big house for his blow-off with B-Boy at "Threemendous"...

...but he didn't lose the match. And while I didn't hate that finish the way some did, it does sorta feel like we're past midnight on Joey's reign at this point. Tornado got a big pop for his Dusty win last show, sure, but in general it feels like this reign has been extended for too long, and it won't pay off quite as big as it would've in July.

Still, it's been a helluva reign, one that's really turned me around on Joey.

1. Kevin Steen
But this has gotta be my guy. Steen, in my opinion, had the highest average match quality of any PWG champ. The switch with AJ, the Quick defense, the two Bosh defenses, the Joe defense, the three-way and the switch with Joey -- there's not a bad match among them, and there are several really good ones. I thought his BOLA match with SD was a little overblown, but still not bad, and his BOLA match with AJ was a cool little storyline match.

In addition, Steen was super-over, and he felt like a champ -- he really commanded the attention of the crowd in that role, in a way that, say, Frankie and Dragon. Steen's title defenses always felt like the biggest matches of the shows he was on; I don't think that's been true for any other champ.

To be fair, I see no real evidence that Steen drew as champ -- the October '05 attendances were disappointing, and the one good crowd you can partially attribute to him, "Astonishing X-Mas", came after he'd lost the belt. Still, though, he consistently had good matches and he felt like a star. To me, that's enough to call him the best PWG champ ever.

[npdavis]

I have to say Joey Ryan because it's one of those reigns that makes people dying to see a title change for the good reasons.

[shyboy13]

Best kayfabe champs:

1. Joey Ryan. He has had the most title defenses and also has defended the title in 3 countries and other places outside of Los Angeles. He may cheat to win but then again so did Ric Flair. In fact, Flair often times would get disqualified or couted out just to retain his title. Few would argue that Flair is one of the greatest Kayfabe champs of all time.

2. Frankie Kazarian. Two time champ who brought credibility to and really helped build PWG. He had the 2nd most defenses than anyone else.

If we are talking non-kayfabe then we may have different interpretations but it is arguable that AJ Styles was the best. I say this because a) he may be the biggest drawing champ in PWG history, and b) he may have also made PWG a household name among internet fans (basically PWGs only fan base).

Regarding (a), whild attendance did spike during his reign, ASW may have been more responsible for this than AJ as it brought awareness to the PWG product. After all, the crowd was already big at ASW BEFORE AJ won the belt. The fact that Wrestlemania was in Los Angeles at the time may have had a lot to do with it as well. For these reasons, it can be argued that AJ as champ was not as big a draw as it may seem on paper. Also, keep in mind that during AJ's reign PWG was bringing in other TNA stars that can also take credit for the attendance growth. Still, AJ as champion saw more fans to the Gorrilla Gym and while it may or may not be attributed soley AJ, it still cannot be ignored.

Regarding (b), I think that once AJ became champ people started to take notice. Fans who are not familiar with a wrestling company may see the match listing and make a buy based on the matches/champion. Super Dragon and Adam Pearce were not exactly household names at the time. People are more likely to buy a DVD if they see names they recognize and people recognized AJ's name. If PWG has an important person as their champion, it brings credibility to their title.

Summary:

Kayfabe:
1. Joey Ryan
2. Frankie Kazarian

Non-Kayfabe:
1. AJ Styles (arguable)