5 Potential AEW World Championship Contenders for Jon Moxley

Now the AEW World Champion, Jon Moxley looks poised for a lengthy reign at the top. Here are five challengers for Mox.

With Jon Moxley’s recent win over Le Champion, Chris Jericho, he’ll no doubt face an onslaught of competitors hungry for AEW’s top prize. With some of the best young talent in the world (and Jack Hager for…some reason) AEW has a real opportunity to shine a light on the criminally underutilized talent of Moxley and several other wrestlers on the roster.

Here are some potential challengers that could bring the most return on entertainment value for their investment in the Cincinnati native.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Most recently, the perennial smug heel, MJF has come off of wins over Adam Page for the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring in November of 2019, and a win against legends Diamond Dallas Page, Dustin Rhodes, and QT Marshall with The Butcher & The Blade. What makes a great heel like Friedman work, is you want to see someone knock that smirk off his face, and who better than the AEW World Champion, Jon Moxley?

Moxley is known far and wide for his brutality, the levels of violence he’s capable of reaching when pushed hard enough. MJF would be the perfect opponent to play mind games against Moxley. This feud needn’t feature any action in the ring, tease the audience with a medium-length build, with Jon never quite getting his hands on Maxwell.

The question is if Friedman poked the Moxley bear enough in the name of having an upper hand against the champion in a match, would he have the fortitude to deal with the undoubtedly violent consequences his antagonistic actions would have wrought?

Should Friedman come out on top and as the 3rd AEW World Champion, this would create some great heat between Friedman and The Inner Circle’s leader, Chris Jericho. The tension between the two would be palpable before Jericho would inevitably turn on the scarfed wrestler.

With Chris Jericho being a legendary top-tier heel – this feud following a victory for Friedman could help him come into his own as a heel, and as a wrestler that belongs at the top of the card.

Additionally, a victory for Friedman would add a new level to the bitter rivalry between his former best friend, Cody. AEW fans will remember that due to Cody’s loss against Chris Jericho at AEW Full Gear with Friedman’s assistance that he’s unable to challenge for the AEW World Championship. Imagine your best friend not only betraying your trust but taking the thing you treasure most.