Every AEW TBS Championship Title Change, Ranked

The AEW TBS Championship has been in existence for just over 4 years on the time of writing, and the title already has a really interesting history. Introduced because the midcard title for the AEW women’s division to provide the All Elite ladies something to fight over, there has already been two reigns which have lasted longer than 500 days, a complete of 78 matches where the title has been on the road, and the present champion Willow Nightingale is the primary woman in history to carry the blue and gold strap on a couple of occasion.

Of the 78 matches where the AEW TBS Championship has been on the road, the title has modified hands a complete of 5 times. For a belt that’s effectively a midcard title that has only been around for 4 years, only having five title changes may be very rare as midcard titles are often passed around from wrestler to wrestler to be able to push certain performers further up the cardboard and eventually into the fundamental event. So what higher option to look back on those five title changes than by putting them right into a neat little watchlist for you to look at, and rating them so as from the worst match to one of the best?

For context, we should not including the match that determined the inaugural AEW TBS Champion, that being Jade Cargill’s win over Ruby Soho on the January 5, 2022 episode of “AEW Dynamite.” That is resulting from the title not technically changing hands as there was no champion to take the title from to start with, but it surely definitely deserves a mention for being historically significant within the story of AEW as an organization. With that out of the best way, that is every AEW TBS Championship change ranked from worst to best.

For as much of a feel good moment as this was on the time, Willow Nightingale’s triumphant victory over Julia Hart from AEW Dynasty 2024 lands itself at the underside of this watchlist.

The fundamental reason for this may be very easy. Hart had spent nearly five months as champion, but spent the second half of her reign notably absent from the ring as she was affected by a shoulder injury. The injury would eventually keep Hart out of motion for the rest of 2024, and while she did return before the 12 months was out, attacking Jamie Hayter on an episode of “AEW Collision” in the identical constructing this pay-per-view took place in, “The Princess of Darkness” would not wrestle again until Recent 12 months’s Day of 2025.

It’s due to Hart’s injury and her willingness to go ahead with the match despite her condition that keeps this match at the underside of the list. It is not necessarily bad, but there is barely a lot which you can do when one person physically cannot wrestle for longer than six minutes. The match essentially becomes a glorified squash match where Nightingale gets a straightforward victory, and while it was great to see Nightingale win her first title in AEW, the proven fact that someone who’s so beloved by the audience had their big moment feel prefer it got here out of nowhere was an actual let down. 

Nightingale was almost overshadowed immediately afterwards as Mercedes Mone, who had only in the near past debuted for AEW a month earlier, got here out after the match to steal the highlight away from the brand new champion in a moment that ought to have really been reserved for Nightingale. Obviously, this was a heel attempting to generate heat for taking a special moment away from a babyface, but a minimum of let the moment breathe just a bit bit. 

It’s principally the AEW TBS Championship equivalent of the match between Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW Double or Nothing 2023 where the corporate needed to get the belt off of Hayter resulting from injuries, but decided to go ahead with the match anyway, leading to a lengthy squash. Hopefully Hart and Nightingale will have the option to have a full length bout the following time they go one-on-one.

Speaking of AEW Double or Nothing 2023, it was an evening of glorified squash matches leading to title changes for the AEW women’s division as not only did Jamie Hayter lose her AEW Women’s World Championship, but Jade Cargill lost her AEW TBS Championship as well.

Cargill’s run because the AEW TBS Champion was historic for thus many reasons. Not only was she the primary champion, but she set the bar so high with a reign that lasted 508 days and had a complete of 25 title defenses. The reign also began in the course of Cargill’s unbeaten run in AEW, and at Double or Nothing 2023, she took her record to a staggering 60-0 by defending the belt against Taya Valkyrie. Nevertheless, Cargill’s manager, “Smart” Mark Sterling, got a bit too smart for his own good and issued an open challenge to anyone in AEW to return and face Cargill for the TBS Championship because it seemed that there was nobody adequate to provide her an actual test.

Enter Kris Statlander. It looks as if an age ago now but back within the spring of 2023, Statlander’s profession going the best way of those that had all of the potential on the planet however the worst luck with injuries. In June 2020, Statlander tore her ACL in her left leg and was forced to spend ten months on the shelf, eventually returning to motion in April 2021. Then in August 2022, she would tear her ACL in her other leg, in addition to her lateral meniscus and missed one other nine months of motion. It gave the impression of she couldn’t catch a break, but she made a full recovery just in time for Double or Nothing 2023.

She got considered one of, if not the largest response of the complete show when she returned as fans the world over had cited her as the lady who should finally put an end to Cargill’s reign. Statlander got here in, completely wrecked Cargill in lower than a minute and have become the second-ever AEW TBS Champion in her first match back from injury. The moment rejuvenated the pay-per-view itself because the show had began to pull for some fans, as had Cargill’s reign as there have been so many ladies in AEW, including Statlander, who fans desired to see turn the TBS Championship into the workhorse title. 

While technically not nearly as good as Willow Nightingale vs. Julia Hart, Kris Statlander’s victory over Jade Cargill gets higher placing because of the moment being so historically significant. Cargill would wrestle yet one more match in AEW, that being against Statlander on an episode of “AEW Rampage” in September which she lost, while Statlander held the title up until Full Gear in November where she lost it to…

The very best move of Julia Hart’s profession has at all times been the moment she gave into the darkness and joined the House of Black. The mist that was sprayed into her eyes by Malakai Black in December 2021 seeped into her system and as time went on, she would morph into “The Princess of Darkness” everyone knows today. The opposite best move of her profession was consistently working on improving her skill levels contained in the ring to the purpose where she actually became a legitimate contender to Kris Statlander’s AEW TBS Championship by the autumn of 2023.

Hart and Statlander have a novel history together in AEW, with Hart’s profession in the corporate effectively tied to Statlander irrespective of what they do individually. Hart’s first match with the corporate was against Statlander in April 2021. Hart would then suffer a second loss to Statlander almost one 12 months to the day that she made her AEW debut, but that match could be the last time she would lose a match for 18 months. Hart gave into the dark side because of the House of Black and went on an 28-match unbeaten run, leading her right back to Statlander at WrestleDream 2023. 

Statlander retained on that night, but within the background was someone who was falling victim to the identical thing Hart had all those years ago, Skye Blue. Hart would spray mist into the eyes of Blue, which slowly began to take control, but not before Full Gear 2023 where Hart wanted a rematch for the AEW TBS Championship against Statlander, while whatever was left of Blue’s good side wanted revenge on “The Princess of Darkness.” This resulted in a three-way match going down at Full Gear 2023, which became the one event where the AEW TBS Championship modified hands in a match that featured a couple of participant.

The match itself is quite underrated within the grand scheme of things. It had the unenviable task of being sandwiched in between a 4 way ladder match for the AEW Tag Team Championships, and the long-lasting Texas Death Match between Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland, so that you could be forgiven for those who forgot how this match went. With that said, this was an entertaining three way dance that gave everyone a likelihood to shine. Obviously, Statlander did a variety of the heavy lifting, each figuratively and literally, resulting from being probably the most experienced performer, but although Hart and Blue were still fairly green at this point, they’d their moments that had the KIA Forum on its feet.

Hart’s Moonsault was a thing of beauty. The Code Blue is at all times impressive when done right, and the finish where Hart stole the win right from under Statlander’s nose was an important decision. Not the cleanest match on the planet, but adequate to be beneficial and take third place on this watchlist. 

For as underrated because the AEW Full Gear 2023 three-way is, there’s a gulf at school between that bout and the highest two matches on this list. Everyone knew how good Willow Nightingale was heading into AEW Double or Nothing 2024, and the story of Nightingale being the one to place Mercedes Mone on the shelf for a whole 12 months was one which had some people believing that their first AEW TBS Championship match must have fundamental evented this show over Anarchy within the Arena. To make up for it, this was billed as one-third of a triple fundamental event, which sounds good, but unless you are on last (especially if it is a two day event), it isn’t the true fundamental event.

The large query mark heading into this match was Mone’s health and whether she could work to the extent she worked at as Sasha Banks in WWE. Ring rust was naturally going to play a component within the bout, but the primary match back after an injury that legitimately could have seen Mone retire in consequence could have also led to “The CEO” holding back in certain moments. Nevertheless, you may’t hold back whenever you’re in there with someone like Nightingale as she may need the sunshine and rainbows personality, but she is able to performing some serious damage when the time calls for it.

The general result was a bout that breathed recent life right into a show that’s a main example of an AEW pay-per-view that seems like a marathon to get through. It was a David vs. Goliath affair with the roles reversed as the group were actively routing for the Goliath of Nightingale as Mone’s David tried to cut the tree down by working over the leg whilst on top of things. She knew that if Nightingale did not have a very good base, moves just like the Doctor Bomb and The Pounce would not have the identical sauce behind them. Nightingale fought back valiantly, and with the group sort of half-knowing that there was a very good likelihood her reign could come to an end give that Mone was a fresh recent signing, every near fall had people leaning in and believing Nightingale could do it. 

In the long run, it was “The CEO” who emerged victorious, and although her Mone Maker ending move is not one of the best move on the planet (seriously Mercedes just follow the Statement Maker), it got the job done for her. Easily one of the best title change within the lineage of the TBS Championship as much as that time, but you simply got the sense that there was a fair higher match to the one we saw at Double or Nothing 2024 within the lockers of Mone and Nightingale. It was just an issue of after we would get to see that match.

This is not recency bias talking, but I genuinely consider that that is considered one of the best matches within the history of the AEW women’s division. 2025 was a banner 12 months for AEW as an organization, with many fans believing that it matched, and even surpassed, the beloved 2021, and having the ultimate match of the 12 months be one of the vital anticipated rematches in the ladies’s division was a call that couldn’t have gone mistaken.

Each women walked into this bout having undergone some major changes. For Willow Nightingale, she had finally gotten some gold back round her waist in the shape of the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships alongside Harley Cameron within the Babes of Wrath, who actually eliminated Mercedes Mone and Athena from the tournament to crown the inaugural champions. As for “The CEO,” she had reached the top of the industry by holding 13 belts representing 11 different championships from corporations the world over. She was the longest reigning AEW TBS Champion, and was aiming to complete 2025 by matching Jade Cargill’s record of 25 successful defenses.

With that said, Mone had lost the ROH Women’s World Television and RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championships within the lead as much as this match. She did not take the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships from The Babes of Wrath at Worlds End 2025, and was still haunted by the proven fact that she had yet to win the AEW Women’s World Championship. Mone had develop into erratic and aggressive, unhinged and dangerous, and that was evident in the best way she carried herself through this match. She had already gotten near her final form in AEW, and was having arguably the best 12 months of her profession, but would her emotions get the higher of her?

At times, yes they did get the higher of her, but it surely was Nightingale who made all of Mone’s mistakes count. She channeled the entire individuals who helped her get to where she is today to be able to recover from the road, and with each women having a lot on the road going into, every near fall was believable and exciting. Nightingale and Mone weren’t going to let AEW head into 2026 with a whimper, they were going to throw every little thing they’d at one another to be able to come away with the win.

In a world where finishers are less effective than a chocolate teapot omitted within the sun, the sight of Mone not kicking out of the Doctor Bomb and Nightingale getting the win was something that genuinely surprised people, but that is what made it so great. Easily one of the best AEW TBS Championship match ever, one of the best title change the belt has seen to date, and with “The CEO” still yet to wrestle in 2026, a rubber match between the 2 ladies in AEW could finally be the moment where a women’s match fundamental events an AEW pay-per-view.