The AEW Rundown: The Build to Revolution Heats Up

5) Chris Jericho & Jon Moxley is Wrestling at its Best

The feud that was hinted at the very first AEW show, AEW Double or Nothing, when Jon Moxley debuted and attacked both Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho. He struck Jericho first, and then proceeded to beat on Omega. The attack made it clear, Moxley was gunning for Omega and Jericho both, and the responses of the two characters shows the difference between Omega and Jericho.

Omega didn’t run, and started fighting with Moxley and joining him right in the middle of the ring with an absolute war at AEW Full Gear. Jericho, however, has been dodging Moxley since. This was seen clearly in how Jericho tried to get Moxley to join the Inner Circle, calling for him to work with Jericho rather than against him.

Jericho offered him a majority stake in Inner Circle (49%, which isn’t a majority, but since Jericho is a heel, it’s fantastic) and offered him a brand new car. After initially agreeing to join, Moxley told Jericho that he was kidding and then smashed a bottle of the Bubbly over Jericho’s head before running off and stealing the car.

Moxley got one up on him, but Jericho was not happy. Soon thereafter, the Inner Circle attacked and Jericho took a spike of his jacket and jabbed it into Moxely’s eye, leaving him unable to see out of his right eye. Moxley played the gimmick up perfectly, wearing bandages and an eyepatch in every public appearance since, even in NJPW.

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Looking like Big Boss from the Metal Gear series, Moxley was even more dangerous. After defeating Ortiz in a match, Santana ran down to attack, but Moxley was ready, taking the keys to the new car that Jericho gave them, jabbing it into Santana’s left eye. An eye for an eye, as Leviticus 24:19-21 says, rather than turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-40), as Jon Moxley went Old Testament on the Inner Circle.

Moxley was able to defeat Santana the next week, and continued to show that everything Jericho threw in his path failed. Moxley and Jericho finally got to the ceremonial weigh in for their match at AEW Revolution, and Moxley stepped onto the scale with no issues at all. Jericho took his time, taking off his sun glasses or handing his title to someone else. Moxley clearly got fed up and headbutt Jericho, drawing blood.

Jericho and Moxley began to brawl, but the numbers of the Inner Circle took over and beat him down. Dustin Rhodes ran down and attacked Jake Hager and they brawled back to the concessions area (Save the Dippin’ Dots, for goodness sake!) and Hager smashed Dustin into the Dippin’ Darts cart.

Meanwhile, Darby Allin ran in and attacked Sammy Guevara, but Sammy hit a flying knee and broke Darby’s skateboard over Darby’s head, leaving him lying, and Chris Jericho hit Moxley with a Judas Effect, and a Paradigm Shift onto the scale. The Inner Circle has the upper hand on everyone heading into AEW Revolution, and this is only the surface level of all the great stuff AEW has been doing to build these matches.

Honorable Mention:

The entire Sammy Guevara & Darby Allin feud has been absolutely genius. Darby Allin is quickly becoming one of the biggest stars in the company, and is clearly being positioned to be a top guy going forward. After jamming Darby’s own skateboard into his throat, Sammy Guevara has been great at generating heat while running from one of AEW’s hottest acts.

Match Ratings:

AEW Dynamite – February 26, 2020

PAC vs. Kenny Omega: *****

Jurassic Express vs. Inner Circle: ***1/2

Butcher & Blade vs. The Best Friends: **3/4

Shanna vs. Big Swole vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Yuka Sakazaki: **1/4

So, this ends the first edition of the AEW Rundown. Expect next week to include more information from AEW Revolution, AEW Dark, and AEW Dynamite! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the PPV, as I know I will!