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Back in February when we started the 2024 rankings we only had 10 qualifying factions. Since then only about half remain in their original form. It's interesting to look back and compare:
Out of the Rankings
Bang Bang Gang- Everyone's hurt! Feels wrong to leave them off but they haven't had the matches lately. The exception being Jay White who's having a pretty good solo run.
2025 Prediction: The group will head their separate ways with Jay White chasing singles gold and the Gunn Club chasing tag team success. Juice Robinson is the real wild card, no telling what he'll do when he gets back from injury.
MxM- I thought Johnny TV would be more of a team player, establishing a new faction but he hasn't appeared along side them enough.
2025 Prediction: Spending more time in ROH than AEW. You're going to see this prediction pop up for a lot of factions.
The Rankings
#13 Iron Savages (Up 1 Spot)- Lots of groups moved up one spot due to other groups dropping off the rankings.
Strength: 0%
2025 Prediction: They'll probably stick around, but a move over to ROH would benefit them.
#12 Premier Athletes (Up 1 Spot)- Still a fun group of heels. I will not debate anyone on this.
Strength: 4.8%
2025 Prediction: This act has probably run its course and it's time to do something new.
#11 Dark Order (Up 1 Spot)- One of the few groups that started 2024 with the same members that it ends the year with.
Strength: 8.3%
2025 Prediction: I'm not sure if Dark Order needs a shakeup or not. They may be the comfy blanket of AEW, we'll see Uno, Silver, and Reynolds as a faction in 2030.
#10 Top Flight (Up 1 Spot)- Action Andretti and Lio Rush are out. The two teams are having matches against each other and Rush/Andretti are dressed like caltrops. Top Flight is just a trio. Strength only changed by a single percentage point after the departure.
Strength: 27.6%
2025 Prediction: All three members of Top Flight get more wins.
#9 LFI (Up 1 Spot)- The Beast Mortos replaced Preston Vance, yet the group hasn't really done much. I hope this changes in 2025, but I said the same thing about 2024 so I'm not optimistic. Better chance of singles success from Beast and RUSH.
Strength: 44.4%
2025 Prediction: Wish I could say trios gold for the group but I fear they're just going to get lost in the shuffle again.
#8 Undisputed Kingdom (No Change)- This group closed out 2023 looking like complete world beaters, now they're better suited to ROH. Wardlow's injury unfortunately sidelined a potential angle with Adam Cole, while Cole himself tread water reheating his feud with MJF. This group desperately needs a new direction. Maybe Kyle O'Reilly is the answer? They gained three strength points with his addition.
Strength: 55.4%
2025 Prediction: Strong/Taven/Bennett spend more time in ROH, Adam Cole goes solo (or tags with Kyle O'Reilly) while Wardlow leaves AEW altogether.
#7 The Patriarchy (Up 2 Spots)- Christian's family unit has only grown this year with the addition of Kip Sabian (who hasn't had any matches since joining the group).
Strength: 51.2%
2025 Prediction: Christian will finally cash in his AEW World Title shot (maybe).
#6 Conglomeration (Up 1 Spot)- There's still some drama to unfold regarding Kyle O'Reilly as he seemingly is now part of the Undisputed Kingdom. I hope we at least get an interview with KOR so he can explain himself. As for the Conglomeration, they only dropped one strength point when he left. This is the benefit of having the most total wins (103) of any faction for 2024.
Strength: 62.8%
2025 Prediction: Most unpredictable group to predict as far as departing/new members. It could be anyone!
#5 The Learning Tree (Up 1 Spot)- Congrats to Big Bill and Lexi Nair on getting married!
Strength: 47.9%
2025 Prediction: I would say that Jericho retires but his in-ring career could very well outlast Sting's at this point.
#4 House of Black (Up 1 Spot)- HoB are the elder statemen of the AEW factions at this point. Everything has a shelf life in wrestling and while HoB feel fresh and exciting still, a year is a long time. Brody King and Julia Hart are both getting good fan reactions and Buddy Murphy's reaction in Australia will be interesting to see. With Malakai Black status always up in the air (he's had back issues for a while). I wouldn't be surprised if this group doesn't last the next 12 months.
Strength: 65.5%
2025 Prediction: Singles gold for both Julia Hart and Brody King.
#3 The Elite (No Change)- Okada has been the only active member of the Elite since the Young Bucks started working from home after losing the Tag Team Championships. 2025 should start off hot for the group as both the Bucks and Jack Perry will be representing AEW over at NJPW's Tokyo Dome shows.
Strength: 65.4%
Championship: AEW Continental (Okada)
2025 Prediction: With Kenny Omega back, things are only going to get hotter with the Elite.
#2 Callis Family (No Change) Takeshita is looking like a dominant champion after beating Hobbs at World's End. Cage and Archer could soon join him if they get a shot at the Tag belts. Then we have Kyle Fletcher who had a stellar 2024 and could easily win a solo championship in 2025.
Strength: 55.5%
Championship: AEW International (Takeshita)
2025 Prediction: The Callis Family has the most dynamic roster aside from the Conglomeration. Easy to predict they'll get some new members next year (and lose some current ones).
#1 DeathRiders (No Change)- Back in February I predicted that the Blackpool Combat Club would undergo some form of metamorphosis. While I was correct I underestimated how much of a paradigm shift it would be. I thought there would be new members (PAC), a female member (Shafir) and that Danielson would go into semi-retirement (plastic bag). They end 2024 at the top and are going to be carrying that momentum into 2025.
Strength: 75.0%
Championships: AEW World (Jon Moxley), AEW Trios (Claudio, PAC, Yuta)
2025 Prediction: Someone will take down Moxley and the Death Riders, but it remains to be seen who that will be.
As expected the factions all grouped towards the center of the chart as the year ends. We had gaps in certain groups as the Blackpool Combat Club rebranded to DeathRiders, and Dark Order disappeared from AEW TV over the summer. Other than that, there wasn't anything too drastic in regards to movement.
Along with 2024 coming to a close this is also is the end of this iteration of the AEW faction rankings from me. While I've greatly enjoyed my time here at prowrestlingmusings, it's time for me to move on to other things. If you've followed me here on the site I offer you thanks. Pro-wrestling fandom, like other fan bases, can be filled with toxic individuals but I've met so many cool and like minded people over the years who are passionate about wrestling. We get invested in storylines and performers and I think that's a good thing. What we don't want to do as fans are gatekeep the product away from others, because the more people that are into this the better. It makes for a stronger industry which creates more fans and more people to share this with. The other thing we shouldn't do as fans is take this all too seriously. I wanted to write for prowrestlingmusings because a stat based approach is a unique way to look at athletic performance art. The debate of "this wrestler's good" countered by "no they're not" doesn't really interest me. Assigning stats to wrestling provides a fuller debate, but don't think that it's the ultimate answer. One of the first pieces I wrote here was how much I enjoyed Peter Avalon vs. Brandon Cutler. Statistically they were not winners, but I was invested in the story and you can't measure that.
Special thanks to Craig for starting this whole thing and providing me a platform to put some content out into the ether. Thanks also to Sergei who developed the system for looking at factions that's I've been fortunate enough to play with for past couple of years. I wish this site nothing but the best in 2025 and beyond.