7 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (May 6)

5. Moxley Conquers Kazarian

Jon Moxley vs. Franke Kazarian was some good-ass wrestling television and no more than it needed to be, with the AEW World Champion overcoming the SoCal Uncensored man in a fun, competitive bout.

Though the announcers pointed out that this was Kaz's first singles match since January 2019, at no point did he look or feel overmatched. He was competitive against the champ for long portions of this, particularly early on, when he got the better of Mox in several traditional wrestling exchanges. This changed when he bashed his knee on the ramp. Forced to alter his gameplan, Kazarian entered Moxley's hard-brawling world, with the tide turning in the champ's favour as they started clobbering.

The right structure and the right match for these guys, with Kazarian looking good in defeat. The upset was teased but was never going to come to pass as Mox pulled Kaz in for a Paradigm Shift and the 1-2-3, padding his record, boosting his credibility, and enhancing the opponent at the same time. Good stuff.