AEW and NXT Wednesday Night War: 3 winners of night #20

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 23: Wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts from "The Resurrection of Jake The Snake Roberts" poses for a portrait at the Village at the Lift Presented by McDonald's McCafe during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images) /

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Jon Moxley

There’s one word that describes Jon Moxley’s AEW Championship victory over Chris Jericho at Revolution last weekend: vindication.

After leaving WWE – a promotion that often took his talents for granted in his nearly eight-year tenure – the former Dean Ambrose proved in AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) that any perceived disappointments said more about the federation he bolted from than any overstatement of his skills, and his win over Jericho was the culmination of that renaissance.

On this week’s Dynamite, the new champ – sporting a black eye and a scar on his forehead from his war with “Le Champion” – opened the show with a fiery promo that checked all the top babyface boxes: he talked about how the championship belonged to the fans, professed his love for “the sport that [he] has dedicated his life to”, stated his intentions to be a fighting champion, and put over the company without sounding too schmaltzy, and it took him less than four minutes to do so.

WWE always saw some value in Moxley, but they didn’t see him as a tippy-top babyface. AEW clearly does and based on what we’ve seen so far, they’ve made the right choice.

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