Hot take I had in one of these threads back in 2021, that Sammy was the overall best of the "pillars" and had the most upside, a year and a half later I think he's shifted to number 2.
Re-ranking the "pillars" now, I got it like this.
MJF is number 1 right now obviously, being World Champ of the company, but his schtick is tired and I've literally only liked 4 of his matches in nearly 4 years of AEW's existence. Guy gets great dance partners and makes the most of it. Would love to see what he can do with random wrestlers in the lower and mid card, guy hasn't had to pull fun matches out of every roster member like Sammy and Darby have on a consistent basis for 3+ years. If the majority of your resume is Cody, Mox, Jericho, CM Punk, and Danielson, I would fucking hope you looked as good as MJF has.
Sammy can pop a crowd wrestling with a broom, the guys flippy "I'm crazy" shit works, guy gets booed out of the arena and the crowd still pops huge during his matches, that's a dynamic not a lot of people have. He's probably had the most great matches (to me personally) out of the pillars. The guy is the most naturally punchable guy on the roster and still managed to organically get over as a babyface with huge pops that only got derailed by real life drama in his personal relationships that happened to coincide at the same time with a never ending shitty feud with Dan Lambert's crew. Guy works great as a heel and the crowd was even itching to pop for him when he teased turning on Jericho during that ROH World Title 4 way a few months ago. Sammy can be a top guy and I feel like he will be.
Darby is my favorite to cheer for, but guy is gonna have a short shelf life unless he changes things up. Guy could easily be the best pillar, but I'm legit worried for the guy. Currently number 3 cause I have no idea what type of future he has with his current match style. Darby is the oldest of the pillars with the most reckless style. He's entering his 30's, that's when shit starts to hurt a lot more lol
Jungleboy is the most MID to watch in the ring and he's the worst on the mic. The only really good matches he's known for have been wild brawls. I feel like every wild brawl in AEW gets praise, can Jungleboy work a great praised match that isn't a brawl? Clear number 4.