Jon Moxley Becomes Interim AEW Champion At Forbidden Door
He and Tanahashi had themselves a war
Jon Moxley has been crowned AEW Interim World champion, after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door on Sunday night in Chicago.
A blood-soaked Moxley tried to subdue Tanahashi with rear-naked and bulldog chokes late in the match. As Tanahashi tried to power out of one choke, Moxley simply turned Tanahashi and spiked him with the vertical Paradigm Shift (Death Rider) for the win.
After the match, as Tanahashi and Moxley showed mutual respect to each other, Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia ran to the ring and attacked both men. Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz, Wheeler Yuta, and the rest of the Jericho Appreciation Society all hit the ring for a brawl, leading to new Blackpool Combat Club member Claudio Castagnoli to hit the ring and help clean house.
Castagnoli will team with Moxley, Kingston, Santana, Ortiz, and Yuta to face Jericho's faction on Wednesday night in Blood and Guts in Detroit.
By winning the match, Moxley will functionally serve as AEW World champion in the absence of actual champion CM Punk. On June 3, Punk announced that he would have to have surgery to repair a broken foot. It was decided to have Punk (who had just won the title on May 29 from Adam Page) hold onto the belt, and crown an interim champion in his absence. Moxley (or whoever he may possibly lose the interim title to in the meantime) will face Punk in a "unification" match when Punk is cleared to return.
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.
