Jon Moxley wasn't even supposed to be on the September 8 episode of AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite. Still, the promo he cut was exactly what the company needed. All fans have been talking about since Sunday night was CM Punk's post-All Out press scrum and the subsequent backstage fallout. A show that should have been a victory lap after crowning three new champions turned into a hard reset for AEW. Unsurprisingly, it was MJF and Moxley leading the charge.
MJF's shocking return at the end of All Out is one of the talking points buried under a flood of news about Punk, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and Ace Steel. He opened the show and was almost playing a caricature of The Voice Of The Voiceless, cutting a full-blown face promo as the crowd cheered for him. That is until Moxley showed up and told him that he was "full of crap." At that juncture, it became Mox's show as MJF retreated from the ring instead of fighting the former World Champion. For the next five minutes, Jon cut a promo straight from his heart, and it might be among the best mic segments he's ever had, be it in AEW, WWE or elsewhere.
Gone were any attempts at bravado or tough guy posturing. He spoke about how much it hurt him to be standing there without the AEW World Championship before talking at length about what that title means to him and the people backstage. He said it was the only material possession on the Earth that he cared about because of what it represents. "The AEW World Championship represents passion for this sport. Passion for this business. It represents the passion of the guys and girls in the back, and the fans that fill the areans and watch at home," he said on Dynamite. "Those three letters on the AEW World Championship, they represent heroes during a pandemic, at a time when the world needed heroes." At this point, Moxley's voice almost broke, and it seemed like he was holding back tears. This promo was so outstanding that it drew praise from an unexpected source: Eric Bischoff.
Jon Moxley Deserves The Priase
On a day that was supposed to be a vacation for Moxley, he instead showed up in Buffalo and wore his heart on his sleeve. For just a few minutes, the darkest night in AEW history faded from memory, and fans weren't obsessing over every little detail about Punk's press conference or the subsequent fight. The audience had a reason to cheer for All Elite Wrestling again.
Because what happened over the weekend was nothing short of bush league. There's no two ways about that, and multiple people with decades of professional wrestling experience have weighed in and called it such. Moxley took the energy away from that distraction and shined a light back on AEW's calling card, which is high-end and impassioned wrestling. Somewhere along the line, the company lost sight of that. With Punk injured and The Young Bucks/Kenny Omega suspended, AEW has an opportunity to start working on building their culture back up to a point of pride instead of what it's reportedly been for the last several months.
Source: @EBischoff/Twitter