WrestleDream 2024 ended with a new AEW Men’s World Champion in Jon Moxley. A man who returned after AEW All In proclaiming, “It’s not your company anymore.”
Moxley defeated his former friend in Bryan Danielson and in doing so ended his full-time wrestling career. It’s hard to say if that mattered. The AEW Men’s World Championship sure didn’t seem to. That was thrown into a black bag and carried off. No hoisting high. No wearing in pride. Essentially stolen. Repossessed? Sorry.
Not only was Danielson’s full-time career and championship taken but so was essentially his life. Jon Moxley handed a bag to Wheeler Yuta to do what Moxley did at All Out. To snuff out Bryan Danielson for good. AEW Commentary mistakenly said it was Darby Allin telling Yuta to stop, but it was actually Wheeler Yuta telling Bryan Danielson to stop fighting it. He wanted it to be over as soon as possible. More on Yuta later.
Darby Allin appeared with a steel chair when Mox originally pulled out the bag. Yuta stopped Darby’s save by using Danielson’s own Busaiku Knee on him. Eventually Private Party ran out to the ring, Jeff Jarrett, Hook, Daniel Garcia, and Orange Cassidy. At that point? The former Blackpool Combat Club slithered away into the night.
Danielson was destroyed. Murdered in his own home state. It’s not your company anymore.
It was an incredible angle to end WrestleDream 2024. If I could suggest some adjustments, I don’t think Jeff Jarrett should have come out. It was very clear this angle had a purpose of focusing on the youth of AEW, particularly those who didn’t come from another company. These were AEW originals. Private Party, Daniel Garcia, Hook, Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, even Wheeler Yuta who ran out (only to turn) made their names in All Elite Wrestling. Jarrett didn’t need to be out there.
Next, I would have liked it if a heel had come out as well. Maybe someone like Brody King, who just gave Darby Allin respect for their match. Or even maybe Big Bill, who might be under The Learning Tree but even he might have felt like the Blackpool Combat Club went too far. I wouldn’t have been against Nick Wayne running out to a hometown pop either, as it wouldn’t have been a betrayal to Christian Cage at all. Blackpool Combat Club has been stopping his Patriarch from cashing in his AEW title shot contract. He has no love for them.
But the show ended focused on four men: Hook, Daniel Garcia, Orange Cassidy, and Darby Allin.
I think there’s a purpose to this. Most have figured out so I’ll put it in words. Jon Moxley is challenging the AEW Originals. You’ve rested on your laurels for too long. You’ve allowed the Ring of Honor legends to walk in and take the top of the mountain. You’ve allowed a guy like Swerve Strickland to get released from WWE in 2021, debut in AEW in 2022, and rise up to the top of the company by 2024. What are you waiting for?
The only originals to get to the top are Hangman Adam Page (who spent time in ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling but never as a top guy) and Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Page is now lost in his anger, a furnace demanding fire because revenge didn’t satisfy him. MJF went from villain to hero to once again villain, a major star who can’t seem to ever feel comfortable in the company. He certainly isn’t an answer to the question of who can stop Jon Moxley. He’s got an Adam Cole to deal with.
So if Jon Moxley is laying down the gauntlet and telling AEW Originals they have to step up and defeat him, who is going to do it? I’m going to discuss five men who ran out to the ring and how their chances are to do it.
Orange Cassidy
Orange Cassidy has been a bit lost in AEW lately, and only slipped onto the show in a last second Zero Hour match announcement. He’s also the only one of the five men I’m about to discuss to be able to beat Jon Moxley, and did it at Full Gear 2023.
Can He Do It?: Yes. Jerry Lynn made sure to give Orange Cassidy some words of encouragement before everything fell apart at the end of WrestleDream 2024. I think there’s a real goal to make Orange Cassidy one of the men who can be at the top of the card and be a real threat to Jon Moxley. Cassidy is 40-years-old so he isn’t a young man, but his time in the spotlight is still bright. He’s never been a top guy, and it’s time he tries. I don’t think he ultimately accomplishes the task but if things changed and they needed him to? The whole company could rally behind OC doing it.
Daniel Garcia
Daniel Garcia has lost twice to Jon Moxley in one on one matches, with their last in 2022.
Can He Do It?: No. But I think he can get close. Garcia returning to All Elite Wrestling instead of trying his hand at WWE was the final rejection of his Sports Entertainment run. He’s talked openly about wanting to replace Bryan Danielson and this is his ultimate opportunity. There are others who are much higher on Garcia than I am, and I think there’s still development for him before he gets to that top level. I think he’s better off defeating Jack Perry for the TNT Championship than dethroning Jon Moxley for the AEW Men’s World Championship.
Wheeler Yuta
Wheeler Yuta is currently Trios Champion with PAC and Claudio Castagnoli of the Blackpool Combat Club. He has wrestled Moxley three times and lost all of the matches, with the April 6, 2022 match being one of the best matches in AEW history.
Can He Do It?: Maybe. I was as disappointed as anyone that Wheeler Yuta chose not to fight the BCC but instead do exactly what they asked of him. He took out Darby and choked Danielson’s beaten down body with the plastic bag. He begged Danielson to stop fighting. He left with them. He’s clearly still conflicted with what happened and what to do.
I don’t think he’s brainwashed. I think he realized that this is what he had to do. He had to step up. Nobody was taking Danielson out with compassion. He was the only one to make sure Danielson wouldn’t feel what PAC and Claudio had coming next for him. I know some think he might hold something against Danielson due to Danielson caring more to do YES! chants in their last match together than help Yuta from BCC, but I don’t think it’s that at all.
Wheeler Yuta knows the inside track to taking down Jon Moxley is by being by his side.
Moxley wants someone to step up. If he’s going to train anyone to accomplish that? It’s only Wheeler Yuta. He’s going to be literally set up to do this. Handed the knife. Told to go for the heart. I think that’s his purpose and he accepts it.
I don’t think he accomplishes it though. But through this? Wheeler Yuta finally makes it to the next level and is no longer just a young boy in the BCC.
Hook
Hook recently retired the FTW Championship and doesn’t know who attacked his father Taz. He has never wrestled Moxley in singles competition but did tag team with Orange Cassidy to lose to Moxley and Yuta back in November of 2023.
Can He Do It?: No. As a matter of fact, I think he does just the opposite. I think he costs Wheeler Yuta his chance of beating Jon Moxley to join the Blackpool Combat Club. I think Hook knows he needs guidance. His father wasn’t enough. All of these old men like Chris Jericho trying to be his mentor are not enough. Samoa Joe? Katsuyori Shibata? None of them are getting him to the next level. I think Hook rejects the opportunity to do the right thing and instead tries to join Blackpool Combat Club. If anyone can make him the killer people have always hoped he could become? It’s Mox, Claudio, and PAC.
Darby Allin
Darby Allin has never beat Jon Moxley in singles competition. They have faced each other four times, one in Northeast Wrestling and three times in AEW.
Can He Do It?: Yes. He has to. There’s nobody better positioned to do so. Darby lost his title shot to Jon Moxley at Grand Slam: Dynamite. He was forced to watch Wheeler Yuta suffocate Bryan Danielson in his home state in front of his eyes. It was Jon Moxley essentially telling Darby Allin, “I did this for you. I did this because you just can’t want this as much as I want this. You can’t get to the top of this mountain. You care too much about other mountains. You care too much about others. You care about everything except yourself. So watch this man die. Maybe this will finally make you realize what matters most in this business.”
Yuta might have been trained by Moxley in the Blackpool Combat Club, but nobody is a kindred spirit to Moxley like Darby. When Eddie, Darby, and Moxley formed a trios in 2021, it felt like three men that were the beating heart and unwavering soul of the company at the time. Eddie Kingston is injured. Jon Moxley has taken the role of heartless king. It’s time for Darby to take the mantle. It’s time for Darby to climb this mountain. It’s time for Darby to be The Protector.
The battle between good and evil has begun. And I believe just as the end of Sting was at AEW Revolution? So will the rise of The Prevailer of Good.
