Who Should Win the AEW TNT Championship Tournament?

After All Elite Wrestling had to put its Blood and Guts match on hold, something just as effective was needed to fill the gap.

Over the coming weeks, an eight-man tournament will determine who wins the AEW TNT Championship at Double or Nothing on May 23.

Crowning an inaugural champion is not an easy task. Whoever wins it will set the tone for the title and future champions to come. They should be elevated by the title and bring credibility to the belt in return.

AEW has an opportunity to create its equivalent of the classic WWE Intercontinental Championship, and it all starts with the right pick for the first-ever titleholder.

So who should win the AEW TNT Championship? Let's look at the competitors and the bracket.

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

At first glance, the left side of the bracket stands a better chance of producing a winner. All four wrestlers could make for a great champion at some point, so it's harder to pick the finalist from there.

In comparison, the right half of the draw is slightly weaker. Dustin Rhodes' status as a veteran is well past the point that he should be winning titles over seven younger stars who could benefit more from winning the tournament.

As Kip Sabian and Colt Cabana are at odds with each other, it would make sense for them to face off in the semifinals. Both would offer something as champion, as Sabian is a talented up-and-comer while Cabana is a popular veteran.

However, there are bigger fish to fry and their feud can play out beyond the tournament, particularly as they aren't on opposite ends of the bracket to make for their clash the final.

For even a semifinal bout to happen, though, as easy as Sabian could beat Rhodes, Cabana would also have to beat Lance Archer, who has a more dominant stature and presence. That's unlikely to happen.

With that being said, Rhodes may not be out in the first round. He doesn't have as bad of a losing record as someone like Peter Avalon or Brandon Cutler and has scored some decent victories over The Inner Circle.

If he beats Sabian, though, he'll fall to Archer. That may be the plan to help further push the Archer vs. Cody story, which may be the key to all this. It's safe to assume he's the finalist on the right side.

On the left, Shawn Spears has been on the hunt for a tag team partner. He could use something like this to propel himself into a more serious spot on the roster, but that story shouldn't be abandoned for a singles push. Therefore, he should lose to Cody.

Sammy Guevara and Darby Allin would make fantastic champions. They've already proved themselves to be two of the best athletes in AEW and are young enough to be future stars to build around.

Neither is quite ready to be the top dog, though, so giving them this title as an alternative would be a great stepping stone.

Credit: Lee South/AEW

That boils things down to Cody, Guevara or Allin against Archer in the final. All four have immense potential as champion. AEW can't go wrong with any of those picks.

Allin may be the easiest to write off, though. The crowd would support his reign, but he's also an underdog. The chase will likely be bigger for him than the run with the belt itself, and there's plenty of time for him to win it in the future.

Guevara almost feels like the obvious pick, but it's hard to picture ghim beating Archer in the final. It's unlikely the Cabana vs. Sabian story would be pushed aside in favor of one of those two against Guevera, either, particularly a heel like Sabian.

Instead, the safe bet is the final comes down to Cody vs. Archer. Jake Roberts has requested a match between the two, but Cody hasn't accepted it yet. However, he'd be forced to fight him in the tournament.

Roberts has also spoken about how his mission is to topple the great Caesar and diminish his power. Is there no better way than to take this title from his grasp?

Giving the belt to Archer would make him a hot commodity in AEW. Winning a tournament by beating one of the executive vice presidents to enter the record books as the first TNT champion makes for three big things in one night.

But it's actually Cody who makes even more sense as the first champion.

He has more credibility than anyone on the roster save for Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley. His popularity is up at the very top, his passion is undeniable and his drive would make for a great run.

Cody can work with a wide range of opponents in technical matches and more hardcore brawls, whether they're bigger or smaller. That will provide a variety of challengers down the line to freshen things up and avoid what could be a monotonous "big guy squashes everyone" run with Archer.

From a marketing standpoint, The American Nightmare holding the title would be great for TNT. He's bound to do significantly more press coverage and media interviews than anyone else in this tournament, which would give the belt more prestige.

It also gives him a title he can make his own. As per the stipulations of his match against Jericho at Full Gear, Cody is not supposed to be able to challenge for the AEW World Championship ever again.

Assuming AEW sticks to that, this could be Cody's title.

As a legitimate main event talent, he would be able to give back to the title and make it feel like it's not an obvious step below Moxley's world championship.

At the end of the day, the belt and the man make each other, so any one of these eight could do well, but it should be Cody holding the TNT Championship when all is said and done.

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Tune into TNT on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET to catch all the action of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.