More has emerged regarding when AEW decided on Jon Moxley’s title win.
On October 12, Jon Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship, ending the full-time career of ‘The American Dragon’ in the process. However, at the time, reports suggested that Darby Allin had been considered to claim the title from Danielson, and now more is known about how far in advance those involved knew of the plan for Moxley to become champion.
Per Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s believed that, while the reported belief was that Darby Allin would be the next titleholder, Moxley was pencilled in to win the championship as a heel prior to his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship victory.
“According to those close to the situation, while the story was out about Darby Allin being planned for the title this year after Bryan Danielson, the secret plan from months ago was always Danielson to Jon Moxley as a heel. The Swerve Strickland to Danielson and then to Moxley story was planned prior to Moxley winning the IWGP title, but apparently the only people who were supposed to know were Tony Khan, Moxley, Danielson and Allin.”
-Dave Meltzer
When it came to Danielson’s title win, Meltzer clarifies that Bryan didn’t want to win the championship until Tony Khan talked him into it on the basis that it would be the best way to end the company’s biggest show. From there, the former AEW World Champion is believed to have chosen WrestleDream in Tacoma to drop the title.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the plans for the AEW World Championship as soon as we hear more.
