10 Times AEW Put Amazing Details Into Storylines

3. Jon Moxley Vs. Kenny Omega

FTR Young Bucks
AEW

AEW didn't do enough to curate the sprawling details of the programme on Dynamite, but Kenny Omega Vs. Jon Moxley was absurdly rich in them.

In the Road to All Out, Moxley reframed his G1 Climax run in AEW canon as a means of preparing for his opponent. This was tremendous; in acknowledging the wider wrestling world, AEW utilised its aura to inform the full, awesome weight of the upcoming attraction. He put himself through that purely for this.

In the inverse of that plot development - and this really should have taken place on and been expressly built as such on Dynamite - Omega entered Moxley's death match domain on Dark, against Joey Janela, to prepare himself for his opponent.

When the match was postponed, Omega laughed callously on Being The Elite and admonished Moxley for leaving "a lot of pieces on the table".

Literal smash cut to the first Dynamite, on which Moxley sent Omega through a glass table. Omega collected those pieces of broken glass and made Moxley, with superb visual poetry, crawl through them as penance for pulling out of the original match.

The weapons used - all of which were teased and made less contrived through footage screened on Dynamite of Moxley's crazed CZW days - doubled as characteristics. The broken glass symbolised Moxley's perseverance; the elaborate barbed wire spiderweb sculpture symbolised Omega's artistic mentality. The "Rembrandt," as Moxley referred to him.

"What are you gonna do Jon? Chain wrestle me?" Omega asked pithily on the Full Gear go-home show.

He did: look at the above picture.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!