8 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Sep 2)
1. Descent To Violence
From start to finish, the entire MJF/Jon Moxley show-closing bit was a total success - and one of the best pieces of television AEW has put together since Dynamite debuted last October.
It began with Moxley's screw-around bout with lawyer Mark Sterling. This was a well-played slice of Sports Entertainment. Sterling came out in a padded bodysuit, looking like a goof as he whiffed punches and fell out of the ring, and played his victim's role perfectly. Mox, meanwhile, was in full-on Humiliation Mode, beating Sterling up with his own shoe before eventually taking him back into the ring, putting him down with a symbolic Paradigm Shift that he can't use on Saturday.
And then, AEW switched gears.
Every comedic overtone was washed away as Wardlow drilled Mox with an F-10 and MJF came out from the back, walker and all. Stripping away his neck brace, walker, and jacket, Max - who was never really injured - descended to violence. His beatdown of the AEW Champion was brutally effective. Busting Dictator Jon open with the diamond ring, biting the wound, bathing in his blood, and screaming himself hoarse, MJF was possessed by the spirit of violence, posing with the World Title to close the show.
More than just giving Dynamite a great visual to close on and dolloping extra heat on an already nuclear programme, this gave MJF a way to explain defeat should he fall to Mox. Kenny Omega was defeated by the AEW World Champion because he fell into the trap of thinking he could engage Jon on his own ugly terms. Here, 'The Salt of the Earth' unwittingly became everything he has rallied against throughout this feud, engaging on the AEW World Champion's terms, not his own, marking a complete shift from the night he had the Paradigm Shift banned.
The younger, less experienced man is playing with fire - and it could spring his downfall.
Unreal storytelling.