Daniel Garcia attacked Darby Allin last night on AEW Dynamite just as Darby was about to get his hands on Jon Moxley, before leaving the 2300 Arena with the Death Riders.
Some were shocked that Garcia turned like this, with others saying they pulled the trigger early on this. I don’t really understand how anyone could say they pulled the trigger early. If anything, this trigger was ready to pull for months.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, in All Elite Wrestling has had a worse 2025. Garcia re-signed with the company in 2024 and soon after won the TNT Championship from Scapegoat Jack Perry. It was the kick off of what was supposed to be a dominant midcard run for Garcia.
Sort of TNT Champion
Garcia, after winning the TNT Championship, decided to join the Continental Classic again. In 2023, he finished at the bottom of the Blue League, only defeating Brody King in a shock. In 2024, once again Blue League, he was able to defeat Shelton Benjamin and Beast Mortos but lost to Mark Briscoe and Kyle Fletcher. He also had a draw against the eventual winner in Kazuchika Okada in a battle of TNT Champion versus Continental Champion.
Being TNT Champion and losing matches to Briscoe and Fletcher didn’t help his confidence, and that shake of confidence put him into a 2025 where he was constantly overshadowed and taken down a notch. Briscoe beating him was proof he wasn’t ready to beat the grizzled veterans. Fletcher beating him was proof he wasn’t the top young mid 20s male superstar in the company. Fletcher passed him by, and Briscoe was just a little better. Garcia, to his credit, did give Briscoe a TNT Championship shot and retained the title.
Garcia opened up 2025 once again deciding to enter a match for a championship instead of focusing on his own TNT Championship. He tried to win the Casino Gauntlet to get a #1 contender shot at the AEW Men’s World Champion. Another loss.
Making up for this, Garcia would have two more defences of his TNT Championship, proving himself to be a fighting champion. He beat Katsuyori Shibata and won a three way involving Lee Moriarty and Kyle O’Reilly. Entering February, it felt like the best possible direction was Kyle Fletcher getting his TNT Championship shot at Grand Slam Australia. That would not happen.
Garcia, instead of staying focused on defending the TNT Championship, turned his attention to the trios division. Garcia worked three trios matches with various partners, including getting an AEW World Trios shot against the Death Riders. He was on the losing team every time.
March would open with an eight wrestler tag that Garcia was on the winning side but that’s because he teamed with Undisputed Kingdom (soon to be Paragon) who had beaten him in matches twice prior. This wasn’t on just a TV show. This was Revolution Zero Hour. The TNT Champion couldn’t get on the main card.
Coming out of Revolution, Adam Cole of Paragon received a TNT Championship shot and went to a time limit finish with Garcia. That time limit draw soon became a no time limit match at Dynasty, and once again a wily veteran got the best of Daniel Garcia. Cole befriended Garcia and treated him like a little boy but did it with kind eyes and a lot of compliments. Garcia fell for it hook, line, and sinker. And at Dynasty? He lost to Adam Cole.
Daniel Garcia’s TNT Championship was basically him losing the Continental Classic, losing a Casino Gauntlet match, losing multiple Trios matches including a Trios Championship shot, and then losing his TNT Championship to a guy he lost Trios matches to. Kyle Fletcher, who beat him in the Continental Classic, never got his title match against Garcia. Garcia lost it before he could face Fletcher. That’s how bad that reign was. He never even got to avenge one of his first losses. He lost, and lost, and lost some more.
From Bad To Worse
Garcia would follow up this TNT Championship loss by beating a jobber in Max Caster and then being unable to defeat Dax Harwood, a tag team specialist, in Detroit. This would lead to a tag team match at Double or Nothing 2025 against FTR, teaming with Nigel McGuinness, and yes, like usual, Daniel Garcia lost.
Garcia would spend June in a bunch of multi wrestler matches, winning some and losing others. He then got a chance to go back at the TNT Championship he lost and in doing so had to face the man who beat him in the Continental Classic and proved he was the better prospect in the company. Kyle Fletcher beat Daniel Garcia in the Continental Classic, and now beat him again to get a shot at the TNT Championship.
It was made clear at this point: Daniel Garcia is not on Kyle Fletcher’s level, and Fletcher is just a contender for the TNT Championship Garcia once held.
Garcia would luck into another shot at the TNT Championship due to Adam Cole being unable to compete at All In Texas. Garcia would watch as another wily veteran got the best of him as Dustin Rhodes rolled Garcia up to win the TNT Championship. Garcia lost the title, lost the number one contendership, found himself back in the match, and lost it again.
One month later, Daniel Garcia had a new shot to go after. This time it was the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and the opportunity to work London, England for Forbidden Door. Garcia said it was a dream of his. His dream wasn’t as big as Nigel McGuinness, who won the match to get the shot. Nigel then asked Daniel Garcia to be in his corner for the match. Garcia agreed.
It felt obvious here that on such a big night for Nigel, to get this shot against Zack Sabre Jr. at Forbidden Door, that Daniel Garcia would lost Nigel the match. I was sure of it, a move similar to what happened when Jack Perry, the man who Garcia beat for the TNT Championship, turned heel after his loss to SANADA at Forbidden Door years prior. Garcia instead just consoled Nigel in defeat.
The jokes that Daniel Garcia was that corner chair in a hotel were rampant at this point. How can this guy just keep losing and letting veterans push him around? When is he going to wake up and realize he needs to do more if he wants to move up in the game?
That’s when the match with Jon Moxley happened. Moxley and Garcia faced each other before, including in 2022 when Garcia was still the kid with potential. He isn’t that kid anymore, and the two had a hard fought match that Moxley had to win through cunning instead of just overpowering the smaller Garcia. Last week on Collision, Daniel Garcia challenged Jon Moxley again. Taking two big losses like this on television felt like career suicide. Why would you just challenge him again?
The match was actually the best of their encounters. It was Garcia getting so much closer to the level Jon Moxley was on but just not knowing enough. It was Daniel Garcia’s realization that he just didn’t have enough on the current level he was at. All of the veterans he followed, he admired, he listened to? They led him to this point.
Garcia has lost everything in 2025. He was supposed to be one of the frontline fighters against the Death Riders. Now he’s just a fallen soldier.
Remember how the Death Riders were willing to burn AEW down to the ground to build something better on the ashes?
Welcome to the career of Daniel Garcia. Burned down to the ground. Time to build something better on the ashes.
Whiplash
Death Riders might have not been able to keep their championships all year, and they may have lost major matches like the Anarchy in the Arena at Forbidden Door. That doesn’t mean the war is over for them. Moxley is now pushing his influence even harder outside of the top than when he was at the top. He’s now open to walk among the roster and push his agenda. He’s Terence Fletcher in Whiplash.
When Jon Moxley cut this promo on Dynamite, a lot of people thought it was a babyface promo. Maybe Jon Moxley would turn away from the dark side?
No, he’s not turning away. He’s going deeper. He’s going to manipulate and brainwash some of the strongest soldiers of Team AEW to join the Death Riders. And when it’s time to make their second strike to the crown? It might be more violent than ever.
It starts with Daniel Garcia. Who is next? Kris Statlander?
Maybe. But right now the focus is on Daniel Garcia. He’s joined the Death Riders, years after people thought he would one day join the Blackpool Combat Club. He wasn’t ready for the BCC back then and would have been too much of the same thing with Wheeler Yuta already there. Now their careers are in very different places, and Garcia’s induction is not as some young lackey. Moxley sees more than just potential in Daniel Garcia. He sees a demon that can replace PAC in the short term and build the ranks of the Death Riders in the long term.
I don’t know what is in Daniel Garcia’s future in the Death Riders, and how this effects his old relationships with Nigel McGuinness and Daddy Magic. He doesn’t need immediate gold. He needs legitimacy. He needs the Death Riders to lead him to victories instead of defeat, and AEW is begging for a new strong heel.
Death Riders lost the war at All In Texas, but the war is far from over. They’ve won this battle over Daniel Garcia’s soul.
The Red Death Rider.
