The Slow Resistance of AEW

“What is the new Paradigm? It’s very simple: you work for me now.”

Jon Moxley and his Crusade, still called the Blackpool Combat Club, made it clear that they are trying to make All Elite Wrestling better through force. Moxley explained the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, the sacrifice needed for something to become beautiful. He stated they were planning to take a piece out of someone forever.

For the greater good. Always for the greater good.”

I’ve laid out that Jon Moxley’s plan has merit but it’s always in the service of himself. This new AEW he’s trying to create is still a world he can survive in. He cannot survive in a world expected to have Dream matches every night where the exhibition of competition is more important than the violence of war. He needs that blood and hate like Hangman Adam Page needs fire.

On Dynamite, several from the roster came together to try to meet Blackpool Combat Club head on, with the likes of Jeff Jarrett’s crew, The Dark Order, The Conglomeration, Private Party, Daniel Garcia, Butcher, Top Flight, and more.

The reaction to this wasn’t anyone being impressed but instead embarrassed. This is the crew tasked to take down Jon Moxley? Claudio Castagnoli? PAC? Wheeler Yuta? Marina Shafir? They’ve been destroying these guys week in and week out. What kind of alliance is this?

This didn’t feel like a real counter assault and it ended up showing itself to just be that. Marina Shafir distracted an entire gang only for the BCC to at the end of the show assaulting Private Party and Daniel Garcia. Jon Moxley decked in black looking like a cat burglar would grab Chuck Taylor, now working as staff for AEW after his injuries at the hands of Trent Beretta, and would make a statement with him.

His former Best Friend faction partner Wheeler Yuta would hook the chair to his ankle just to break it again but Claudio Castagnoli decided that wasn’t enough. The chair was wrapped around Taylor’s neck with Yuta wondering what was going on. Claudio would stomp down on the chair with Yuta clearly not accepting this result.

Orange Cassidy would run out too late for a save, and it’s clear this was all done for him. Last week he refused the call, despite the fact he’s one of the few men who have beaten Mox, Yuta, PAC, and Claudio. Chuck Taylor earlier tried to convince him to get into this fight. Now the BCC are forcing his hand. He can’t run away from this anymore. They will bring the fight to him until the fight comes out inside of him.

Once again surrounding the ring were the men who stood outside the arena and were supposed to protect AEW from this hostile takeover of AEW by Moxley and his crew. Once again they failed.

I’ve heard people criticize this as this isn’t the best AEW has to offer. I pointed out that Moxley is taking advantage of the weak but that’s not enough for some people. This program should have the heavy hitters. Where’s The Elite? Where’s Jay White? Where’s Adam Cole? Where’s Swerve Strickland? Why isn’t everyone answering the call here? Shouldn’t Chris Jericho be upset about Jon Moxley?

Because this transformation that Jon Moxley talked about? It takes time. A lot of time.

The resistance is slow because the people that have the least are the ones who have no choice but to fight for the little they got. They will always be the first to break their complacency, especially when they have no choice with the violence coming to them. The one’s at the top? They don’t care. This doesn’t concern them, and Moxley is smart to leave them be.

Moxley is getting everything he wants by only declaring war on a few. He’s taken over the show. He’s AEW Men’s World Champion. BCC have the Trios Championship. They’ve done everything they wanted to and always run before danger is too much. He doesn’t need to declare war on everyone. The ones with the most? They are happy to let this war rage on in the background.

This resistance to Moxley is going to take some time. Just from a storytelling standpoint, what good would it be if the best of AEW were immediately in the fight and the low card guys were organized and aggressive? This story would get wrapped up before we got to Full Gear. Moxley and his crew are just a couple guys. If you had Page and Swerve and Cole and Ospreay and Ricochet and Jericho and Okada and Bucks and FTR and House of Black all in this then there’s no point. BCC lose. They get their asses kicked and the war is over.

Cool story guys.

The resistance should start slow. It should start with the lowest on the roster. It should start with Jon Silver flipping nun-chucks as his way of taking this serious. We’re only a few weeks into the story. A transformation takes time, and there needs to be people who don’t transform. There needs to be losers. There needs to be fodder. You need stakes for these things to matter.

That’s why Orange Cassidy refused the call. That’s his story. That’s why Darby Allin is nowhere to be found. That’s his story. This is going to take time. This isn’t a, “wait and see” this is people kicking and screaming because they can’t fast forward to see how the heroes win. This story has no bite if the BCC immediately lose, and this story has no bite if AEW is organized after only a few weeks.

You need to be at a point of thinking there’s no way AEW can counter this. You need these moments of depression, of humiliation, of embarrassment. You need to feel like everything is lost before you can start building people up. We need to believe they can one day win, but we also have to feel like it’s hopeless.

The BCC story has issues. They really gotta change their name. That’s why I don’t like using it. This isn’t the Blackpool Combat Club anymore. More should be asking where is Darby Allin because right now it feels like he decided to take a vacation. Marina Shafir not having any women on the roster (aside from beating up Leila Grey) deciding she needs to be knocked back is a bigger problem for me than anything in the story. I guess the AEW that Moxley has taken over is just the men’s division.

But the AEW side being disorganized and under powered and a little embarrassing this early into the war? That makes sense to me. If this story goes to Revolution, heck, if this story goes for a full year? This needs to feel like a war. AEW needs time to get their shit together. AEW needs to eat a lot of losses before they can win anything. They need to be better fighting themselves than the enemy. We haven’t even had anyone officially cross the line and try to align with BCC out of self preservation. That’s how early we are into this.

To those rolling their eyes and asking if I’m saying to let it play out? You’re more than welcome to watch something else and wait for the adults to get back from watching the whole story to tell you how it ends like a bedtime story. Impatience is not criticism. It’s impatience.

As for AEW, they have a lot to learn. They are learning it the hard way. Just because the war made you a better soldier doesn’t change the fact a war was still declared. Moxley must fall.

“For the greater good.”

Photo by All Elite Wrestling

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