Darby Needs Consistency

For months Darby and Cody fought with Team Taz and then Sting joined the team against Taz, Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, and others. It has become common knowledge at this point that Darby has only defended the TNT Championship on four occasions. At this point Allin has held the title for 140+ days and counting though he has made an impact so far as champion he can do more if given the opportunity. Considering the fact that AEW only does quarterly PPV events it is clear that Allin can't only defend the gold on PPV and needs to defend the title on weekly programming from time to time. As of this writing it seems likely that "Big Money" Matt Hardy will be the next challenger for the TNT Championship. This will be a nice test for the youngster seeing how well he can work against a veteran. 

One question worth noting is that if Hardy has moved into title contention where does that leave his former rival Hangman Page as a possible challenger against Darby Allin. Another veteran I believe could be a top challenger against Darby is "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes. It would be another nice test for Darby getting his chance to show his stuff against another veteran of wrestling. Looking up and down the AEW roster there are a number of stars that Darby can defend the title against and I'm not saying he has to defend the title every week just having him defend the gold a little more it would help everyone involved. The other programming under the AEW banner in Dark and Elevation could be used to get Darby more challengers as Darby doesn't need a new rivalry for a right away until we get closer to the next PPV event which would be Double or Nothing in May. 

In my opinion, writing off names like Lee Johnson, Matt Sydal, Kip Sabian, and others as possible challengers would be a mistake. Darby has reached a point where he could help bring other stars forward and elevate them into a more believable position for fans to care about them and have more interest in seeing some fresh talent. Ultimately, it is up to AEW how they see this championship if they want Darby to be a fighting champion and allow his guts be what ends a record setting reign as champion.