AEW Fyter Fest bold predictions: Cage becomes champ

Prediction: Cage decimates Moxley to become the new AEW World Champion

I predicate this on the fact that since Moxley made his way through the crowd at the end of the first Double or Nothing, no other wrestler has entered AEW and made as immediate of an impact as Moxley did than Brian Cage.

Say what you want about Lance Archer or Brodie Lee, but neither of them earned a World Championship shot in their first match. Neither were thrust directly into the World Championship picture; Archer meandered until the TNT Championship Tournament and Lee went from torturing Christopher Daniels to winning squashes to stealing physical possession of Moxley’s World Championship.

Lee’s debut was ballyhooed as “The Exalted One,” but he floundered for a bit at first until he found the character we know today.

Cage, on the other hand, debuted by winning the Casino Ladder Match, ensuring he is the next challenger for Moxley’s title. Further, unlike Archer or Lee, Cage and his manager, Taz, immediately targeted Moxley last Wednesday on Dynamite, Cage’s first appearance.

They didn’t just target Moxley, though. Taz said Cage was going to rip Moxley’s heart out of his chest. Taz said everything but, “Brian Cage is invincible,” to get him over to fans.

It helps that Moxley not only seems willing for a fight with Cage, but relishes the opportunity to both inflict and sustain violence and harm. He knows that Cage is “The Machine” for a reason. Much like his baseball counterpart in “The Machine” Albert Pujols during the Aughts (2000-2009), it’s because he utterly destroys his competition (poor Darby Allin and Lee Johnson, and Brad Lidge on the baseball side).

To the actual match, this isn’t going to be a back-and-forth or even 70-30 match. This is going to be like Brock Lesnar dismantling John Cena at SummerSlam 2014. Cage is basically just going to throw Moxley around and physically brutalize him as he sees fit.

Think of Moxley taking a couple of German suplexes and still having that masochistic smile on his face as he revels in the pain. An F10000 or two, followed by a Drill Claw (maybe an avalanche Drill Claw?), and we have a new champion in a clean victory.

Why make the switch? Well, outside of Archer and possibly Omega, who else is left for Moxley to face at the World Championship level? He beat Jericho to become World Champion and defended against Hager and Lee.

Even if we consider others like Omega or Allin, he’s already bested them in singles competition albeit not as World Champion. Cody is locked in as TNT Champion and wrestlers like Scorpio Sky or MJF aren’t at World Championship level yet. Archer is closer than Sky or MJF, but I have a feeling he redoubles his efforts on destroying “Caesar,” and taking the TNT Championship from Cody.

Cage also presents something different than an Archer, Lee, or Moxley: he’s big and strong, but he can also move like PAC or Rey Fenix. For example, he literally military pressed Allin while Allin was laying on a ladder and threw Allin and the ladder out of the ring simultaneously!

Also, here he is doing his own version of Omega’s You Can’t Escape (with a botch first), but he still hits a fluid moonsault!

His unique style combining power wrestling with lucha libra-like high flying is a wonder to behold. A man as big as Lesnar should not be able to move like Ricochet.

This represents exciting match opportunities for Cage in AEW. Allin could be his first challenger presuming Moxley sells his beating a bit. They have the story of the ladder match to draw on, plus Allin’s history with refusing Taz’s tutelage.

How about Cage vs. Archer if Archer does go for the World Championship? It could be billed as the good old fashioned “Immovable Object meets the Unstoppable Force,” and both men’s athleticism could make the match better than anticipated.

There’s also the rematch with Moxley that’s bound to happen.

Whether it’s Cage against Pentagon Jr., Lee, Omega, or Hager, Cage should be able to have memorable World Championship matches no matter his competition. Cage would also be the first non-WWE affiliated wrestler to hold the AEW World Championship, which should mean something for the company that is in direct competition with WWE.

I hope it happens because it would match his booking and presents fresh matches for the World Championship. Will it? I guess we’ll find out at Fyter Fest.

Those are my five bold predictions, though at least one might not qualify as so bold. In any case, what are your thoughts? Predictions?

Let’s find out together “sometime this summer.”