Skip to main content

Jon Moxley Is Perfect Ace Up AEW's Sleeve Ahead Of Forbidden Door

The main event spot at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door wasn't supposed to belong to Jon Moxley, but now that he's there, it really does feel like fate, as Tony Khan recently (and boldly) stated. That might be a touch on the hyperbolic side, but that vibe is befitting of an event that has been more than three years in the making. And this match with Hiroshi Tanahashi is one that the Cincinnati, Ohio native has been chasing ever since leaving WWE.

It's easy to forget now, but when Moxley bolted from the largest sports entertainment company in history, AEW was far from a sure thing. Khan had the money to make some things happen, but it wasn't clear whether or not All Elite would be able to maintain the momentum created by those first few independent-style shows. So when he rolled up on Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega following the main event of the first Double Or Nothing in 2019, the former Dean Ambrose was taking a pretty big risk. This was AEW's inaugural event, after all, and no one knew what to expect in the weeks and months that followed. This paradigm shift also freed Moxley to eventually become this version of himself. AEW's steadfast ace, capable of stepping into any main event at any time.

Related: AEW Can't Afford To Overthink Wardlow's TNT Championship Chase

Tanahashi was supposed to wrestle CM Punk at Forbidden Door, but an injury sidelined him for the event. It immediately became a foregone conclusion that Moxley would be elevated into Punk's spot. Sure, there was a tournament to determine who would go on to fight for the AEW interim World Championship at this pay-per-view, but the winner was a foregone conclusion. Kyle O'Reilly put up one heck of a fight, but no fight and no wrestler was going to stand between Moxley and this moment.

His battles with addiction are well documented, and he recently spoke at length on The Sessions with Renée Paquette about what coming back from his stint in alcohol rehab has been like. “So my first match back, you think it’s gonna be like, ‘Okay, well, now you’re sober so you’re just going to feel like a million dollars.’ It doesn’t really work like that," he told Paquette. He continued, stating that he began to feel better with every match, culminating with his bout against Bryan Danielson at Revolution. That's when things finally felt right for him in the ring.

The Blackpool Combat Club was born that night. In a way, Moxley was reborn, too. Finally sober, healthy, and away from a miserable experience with WWE, he was set to claim his spot as AEW's go-to, reliable and bankable star. The likes of Danielson and Punk were important signings for All Elite, but they didn't incur the same kind of risk that Moxley did three years ago. He believed in All Elite Wrestling, and AEW has repaid him in kind, by placing him in the main event of the Forbidden Door pay-per-view in a match that's simultaneously a dream fight for fans and for Moxley himself.

Next: Why Toni Storm Should Have A Lengthy AEW Women's World Championship Run

Source: The Sessions with Renée Paquette



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CBS' Ghosts: Every Main Ghost Time Period & Backstory Explained

One of CBS' newest sitcoms,  Ghosts , features a cast full of spectral characters that each hail from a distinct time period and come with their own unique backstory and death. Though each of the eight ghosts has a wildly different perspective based on their different experiences throughout history, they nonetheless form a sort of family, which is one of the show's greatest charms. After all, being stuck with the same people for all of eternity allows for plenty of time to get to know each other. Ghosts , which is an adaptation of a BBC show of the same name, stars Utkarsh Ambudkar and Rose McIver (who played Liv Moore on five seasons of  iZombie ) as Jay and Sam, a young couple who inherit a mansion in upstate New York. To their surprise, however, the house also comes with several ghostly inhabitants, who Sam is able to see after a near-death experience. These are Thorfinn (Devan Long), Sasappis (Román Zaragoza), Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones), Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Hateful Eight's Original Ending Explained (& Why Tarantino Changed It)

The Hateful Eight has an ending full of blood and betrayal, as expected from any Quentin Tarantino movie, but this wasn’t the original ending – here’s why he changed it. Tarantino has explored different genres throughout his career; though he’s best known for his crime movies like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction , he's also visited genres like martial arts (with both Kill Bill  films) and black comedy ( Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ). In addition, he's shared his version of westerns with Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight , with the latter going through some problems and creative changes even before it began shooting. Set in 1870, Tarantino's The  Hateful Eight follows eight strangers, all with different (and secret) motivations, who end up in a stagecoach lodge after seeking refuge from a blizzard. These characters are Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), John “The Hangman” Ruth (Kurt Russell), Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Chris Mannix (Walton Gog...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Spider-Man 3's Uncle Ben Retcon Doesn't Change Peter's Origin

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 is often criticized for a major retcon made to Uncle Ben’s death , but this retcon ultimately doesn’t change Peter Parker’s classic origin story. Raimi’s third film in the iconic Spider-Man trilogy is often criticized, perhaps unfairly. While the film suffers from too many character arcs and plot threads and would have been better as two or three separate films, it does a more than adequate job adapting the Spider-Man comics and telling a sincere story about relatable, flawed, characters who are intertwined with the extraordinary, just as Stan Lee and Steve Ditko intended when co-creating the character. Uncle Ben’s retconned death may alter classic elements from the comic version, but it retains its most important aspects in regards to Peter’s characterization. 2002’s Spider-Man is, for much of the film’s first half, a faithful adaptation of Spider-Man’s 1962 origin story in issue 15 of the Amazing Fantasy comics. An awkward social pariah, Pete...
Post a Comment
Read more