All Elite Wrestling Considering Using Win-Loss Records, Rankings

During All Elite Wrestling's fan rally in Jacksonville on Jan. 8, executive vice president Cody Rhodes made the announcement that the company would have a greater focus on wins and losses than other wrestling promotions.

While he didn't offer any more details at the time, he did tell SEScoops this week that the company was considering using win-loss records and wrestler rankings to increase the importance of match results.

"This is preliminary, but I can tell you that we have talked about rankings and we have talked about records," Rhodes said. "As a kid, we probably all read Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the different mags where they'd have the rankings. Everything we'd like to do is an effort to engage the audience. Not in a way that insults their intelligence. It is something that's been discussed. I can't confirm that we'll do records, or we'll do an analytical take on it, but I've seen some mock ups for some pretty cool stuff."

Rhodes compared the idea to how New Japan uses win-loss records as major story elements during their annual round-robin tournaments like the G1 Climax.

"If you really think about it, somebody like Chris Jericho who just signed with All Elite Wrestling, that's a really cool record to take a look at," he said. "Analytically, it's a really unique outlook on his career, it's incredibly impressive. New Japan does it in their own unique way, with Tag League and with G1 and you notice the fans get really into that. They want something they can sink their teeth into. I can't confirm but we're definitely looking at records and standings, it's a very strong possibility.

"Wrestling to me is very real," he continued. "There is a side of this world that is artificial that we're all well aware of that. But it's a much fairer business (it can be) than people realize. And when I say that, the people that the crowd likes the most. Those are the people that you should invest in. You should never sleep on a moment, you've seen it before, a moment that the crowd gets behind somebody. That's a thing to take note of."

Another factor that could lead to AEW leaning heavily on analytics is company president Tony Khan, who also serves as the senior vice president of Football Technology & Analytics for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

AEW's first official event, Double or Nothing, takes place on May 25 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.