Who should dethrone Jon Moxley as AEW Champion?

Jon Moxley's first AEW Title defense of his most current reign came and went as expected on Saturday night. Despite one convincing false finish, Moxley turned back the challenge of Orange Cassidy to retain his title.

What followed the match was complete chaos as several possible challengers to Moxley's title got involved in the post-match shenanigans. This created many different directions AEW can go to produce a new challenger for Moxley heading into World's End. Christian Cage, "Hangman" Adam Page, and Jay White all made their presence felt inside the ring, potentially setting up a feud between Jon Moxley and any of them. While all three of those challengers are vital pieces of the puzzle that currently makes up AEW, two opponents fit the AEW versus Moxley and his Death Riders storyline more appropriately, and those two people are Darby Allin and Eddie Kingston.

Darby Allin seems like the obvious choice to be the one to unseat Jon Moxley. AEW Full Gear went off the air with Allin bloodied and standing on the hood of Moxley's vehicle ranting about this feud not being over as Moxley and his Death Riders fled the parking lot. Darby is an AEW original and to many loyal AEW fans, Allin is considered the heart and soul of AEW. He is a performer who throws caution to the wind and puts his body on the line for the good of the company. Because of this, Darby Allin is a fan favorite that elicits a strong reaction from AEW crowds wherever he goes. Allin capturing the top men's AEW title over someone of Jon Moxley's status would do nothing but continue to elevate Allin up the card and give AEW something it has never had before, an underdog champion that has to fight from underneath, which is someone who fans would very easily be invested in.

While Darby Allin would be an excellent choice as the next AEW Champion, a case must also be made for Eddie Kingston. Allin and Kingston have many similarities, both worked the independent wrestling scene before getting their big break in AEW. Both are extremely over with fans and both generally wrestle as underdogs which generates crowd buy-in. Where Darby Allin is generally the underdog because of his size, Kingston fills that role because of his perceived lack of athleticism and conditioning. He has been seen by many of his opponents as someone who does not fit in with the elite performers in the sport in many past storylines. This slight that Kingston has to endure feels a lot like bullying and it makes Kingston feel like he is fighting for the common man, which the crowd gets fully behind with huge pops whenever Kingston's music hits.

When debating which one of these two stars should be the one to take the next step by defeating Jon Moxley to become the next AEW Champion, Kingston has a couple of clear advantages. One, Kingston already has a complicated past with Jon Moxley. Their past automatically adds another layer to the Moxley versus AEW storyline and could make for some excellent storytelling within the promotion. Second, Kingston is currently dealing with a serious knee injury. In professional wrestling, absence making the heart grow fonder is a tried and true recipe to capture fan investment, if the story is good. And it would be for Moxley versus Kingston. Kingston is most likely going to be out of action until the summer of 2025. This is plenty of time for Moxley to continue his reign of terror and defeat anyone else who tries to stand up to him in the name of AEW until Kingston is ready to make his return.

The truth is AEW can't go wrong with crowning either Eddie Kingston or Darby Allin as the next AEW Champion. Either way, they will be elevating one of their more popular performers up to the next level, giving them more fresh options in the promotion's main event scene. The best way for AEW to decide this should simply come down to one thing, timing. If Moxley winning the AEW Title from Bryan Danielson was creatively meant to be a transitional title reign, then Darby Allin makes the most sense. However, if the story of Moxley's title reign is slated to continue well into 2025, then the promotion most definitely should hold off until Eddie Kingston is ready to make his return and the "Mad King" should be AEW's next World Champion.