Two weeks ago I asked a simple question: is Jon Moxley a Good Guy?
This is of course a play of words on his real name Jon Good. In his book MOX, Moxley said it was something his father used to say. “Always remember: We’re the Good guys.”
Jon Moxley returned to All Elite Wrestling after All In at Wembley Stadium, where Bryan Danielson captured the AEW Men’s World Championship in the main event against Swerve Strickland. In the ring that night coming to celebrate with Danielson were the members of Blackpool Combat Club and their Trios Championship partner PAC. Jon Moxley was nowhere to be found.
Last week on Dynamite, Jon Moxley made no effort to socialize with his Blackpool Combat Club brethren and instead found Jack Perry of The Elite and told him he always thought he was a sweet kid.
Moxley has actually said this to someone in AEW before. He said it to Hangman Adam Page.
“You’re a sweet kid. Like a lot of kids around here you say stupid shit and your mouth gets you in trouble.”
Jon Moxley and Hangman Page would feud for months after this, from Moxley knocking Page out to Page eventually choking Mox out in a Texas Death match at Revolution. I thought I was on the right track that this was all a ruse in making people think that Jon Moxley was pulling the wool over our heads and actually playing the villain before turning it all on The Elite.
I guess I sometimes get myself too caught up in thinking everything is a Gravity Falls riddle.
At All Out last night, Jon Moxley prevented The Patriarchy and Christian Cage from cashing in the AEW Men’s World Championship on Bryan Danielson after his match with the “sweet kid” Jack Perry. It built a fun situation where Jack Perry and the former Luchasaurus were in the ring together for the first time since their breakup.
Moxley first stood in the way, only to be met by the Blackpool Combat Club and PAC. It looked like maybe his time away hanging around Marina Shafir was just a strange introduction. They stood in the ring with Bryan Danielson and celebrated, completing what we should have seen in Wembley Stadium.
Except something was off. And Wheeler Yuta seemed to know it when Jon Moxley gave Danielson a kiss on the forehead and a big hug.
Soon after, Claudio Castagnoli hit Bryan Danielson with a European Uppercut. Danielson fell to the ground but barely sold it, but was in absolutely shock it happened. He was wide eyed looking at Claudio for hitting him with it, no idea what was going on.
That’s when Jon Moxley tossed the plastic bag over Danielson’s face.
Moxley trying to suffocate Danielson with the plastic bag is directly from the Book of Terry Funk, who did it to Ric Flair at Clash of Champions VIII but also tied a string around it as well. This was during a match in which Sting and Ric Flair teamed up to take on Dick Slater and The Great Muta. Slater also hit Sting in the leg with a branding iron. Brian Pillman tried to resuscitate Flair after.
In this, Moxley just choked Danielson with the bag with a cold dead stare in his eyes. Even more surprising was that Wheeler Yuta wasn’t a part of this. PAC actually held Yuta back as Moxley choked out Danielson. Marina Shafir and Claudio played defence and beat up security trying to help Danielson.
Wheeler Yuta is a tragic figure in this whole situation. He leaves The Best Friends, feeling like they held him back and bullied him. He joins the Blackpool Combat Club, who he feels molded him into a better professional wrestler and accepted him as family. He comes back from injury and wins the Trios Championship with Claudio and surprisingly PAC, a man who had been an enemy of the BCC for years.
And just as BCC had the most success they’ve ever had, every member a champion save for Jon Moxley, who had been absent? The Blackpool Combat Club is torn asunder, completely destroyed for reasons not yet known. It’s tough to say if he was let known what was going to happen but didn’t know how violent it would be, or if they kept him in the dark completely.
Is he still going to be Trios Champion with the men who essentially tried to kill the AEW Men’s World Champion? Can he still defend the titles with these psychos? He walked out with Danielson’s lifeless body instead of following the former members of the BCC.
Make no mistake about it. The Blackpool Combat Club is dead.
Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Marina Shafir, and PAC is an interesting crew, and far better than what some had feared, like a Bloodsport or Revolver invasion. This looks like Jon Moxley waging war on Bryan Danielson and the enemies of The Elite.
I swear, I am doing everything in my power not calling them a “Shield” to The Elite. Even if them lining up and stopping The Patriarchy certainly felt that way.
We now have more questions than answers, but the days of shades of grey with the BCC are now long gone. These men are not here for good intentions.
Jon Moxley had been calling Darby Allin out for a conversation. I doubt he just wants to talk. He probably wants his title shot to face Bryan Danielson and get it himself. Or maybe he does want to talk and wants Darby by his side in this? Everything is on the table.
I will add it’s nice to see PAC find a new group of killers after Death Triangle disbanded abruptly.
The last thing I’ll say is that the heel side of All Elite Wrestling is suddenly jam packed. We did have The Elite as the top heel faction, and they all still hold championships. But Moxley taking out Bryan Danielson makes it feel like his crew, half champions, are just as high on the food chain as The Elite are.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman might be taking some time off after beating Daniel Garcia but getting beat up afterwards, but he’s certainly still a top heel in the company.
And then you got the unsanctioned winner of the Steel Cage match at the end of All Out. The original sweet kid according to Jon Moxley. That sweet kid has become corrupted and become a monster, a downward spiral of destruction transforming him into a god of war.
As summer fades and we move into autumn, it’s getting harder to find good men in All Elite Wrestling. The fifth anniversary is near and many of the original Good Men in AEW’s hearts have turned cold. Winter is Coming, soon. Who is going to defend AEW from the men who used to represent it?
