8 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (6 July)

2. King Monster

Built through promos by Jon Moxley and Malakai Black on the night, which were great and good respectively, the Interim AEW World Championship broadly delivered on its monster mash promise, with Mox scoring the expected victory after choking Brody King out.

This was a dose of comeuppance for King, whose Royal Rampage win came through similar means. Him dangling Darby Allin off the ring before dropping him cold was one of the year's most memorable finishes. Here, he was powerless to avoid Paul Turner calling for the bell as he was stuck in the Bulldog Choke, knowing there was nowhere for him to go but the shadow realm.

Moxley's attempts at proving himself a bigger monster than the House of Black's monster manifested in him trying to fire himself up after eating some hard early shots. When it was established that one of Brody's strikes equated to three or four of Mox's, the World Champion changed tactics, going for a leg. Bombs came thick and fast thereafter. King got his cannonball off at the second attempt, but ate a Paradigm Shift after missing a corner splash. When this didn't do the job, Moxley, to William Regal's glee, transitioned into hammer-and-anvil elbows.

The match didn't quite peak at the level it should have but still delivered on a visceral level. Now, with King defeated and Malakai lurking, we're either heading towards Black vs. Moxley or the House vs. Blackpool Combat Club, both of which hold obvious brutal appeal.