By Will Pruett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@itswilltime)
AEW’s announcement of a Fatal Four-Way match for the AEW World Championship at World’s End served to prove on thing – AEW does not have a babyface challenger strong enough for Jon Moxley.
What other reason would you run out four wrestlers for a title match when two would do? AEW has never changed their men’s world championship in a three- or four-way match. In the pantheon of great AEW matches, there is not a notable four way match to speak of. AEW has constantly told us (through their actions and words) that singles matches matter more than three- or four-ways.
Why is AEW having a four-way match? Simply to fill time. Let’s look at each challenger.
“Switchblade” Jay White appeared to be the clear-cut next man up for Jon Moxley. He recently returned from a hiatus and has yet to take a major loss. He racked up two big wins against former AEW World Champion Adam Page. He is popular enough – with a fun barrage of catchphrases to recite – that fans would cheer him against the dastardly Moxley.
At the same time, Jay White is a weak challenger. His wrestling skill is not in question, but his character has been all over the place in AEW. Anything he has done since failing to beat the one-legged MJF in their awful match at Full Gear 2023 has been a let down. While the matches have begun to hit more, the character still needs work. Jay White was the next guy, but his character has not been cared for enough to sell a premium live event in the main event slot.
Orange Cassidy is an amazing wrestler worth so much more to AEW than I ever thought he could be. His run has been amazing. I didn’t see myself buying into him as a future world champion, but I do now. Orange Cassidy also just challenged for the title last month. We’ve been on that ride with Orange and we believed at various points in the match that he would get the job done. Of course, Orange came up short, but there is enough there to believe in.
Cassidy is also a weak challenger in this moment, particularly because he was just a challenger just a month ago. AEW does not do frequent rematches and they very rarely have main event rematches. It was not time yet for Cassidy to end up in this scene again. Instead of feeling like a hot act onto the next thing, Cassidy is a holdover that feels colder than he did a month ago.
“Hangman” Adam Page is my favorite wrestler in AEW. His story most often parallels the story of AEW and I consider the moment he lose the AEW World Championship to CM Punk to be the moment AEW officially broke from those glorious first three years and became the often middling promotion it is today. Page is a star AEW can always go back to. He is always just a few wins away from a world title shot.
Page is also at a weird place character-wise. He’s been AEW’s secondary heel (behind Moxley) for the last few months. He won his feud with Swerve Strickland (for now). He has also lost two matches in a row with Jay White. Why is Hangman in a title match? He doesn’t have the recent wins to justify it. If he’s going to be in a title match, why isn’t it a singles match? Page is a character that could justify a singles title match.
Even as a heel, Hangman would be an interesting challenger for Moxley. Is AEW not ready to turn him babyface? Are we destined to wait another month where Page cannot win or lose?
This entire main event is a major cop out. If no one is ready for Moxley, that is the fault of the booking and the promotion. A four-way title match, particularly with these challengers, is a waste of everyone’s time and creates a weak main event and a weak pay-per-view. Instead of another marquee win for Jon Moxley, we are just trying to burn time until AEW decides to try to book something compelling.
For the main event of a $50 show, I expect something I want to see. Four-way main events (and three-ways) are almost always bad stories and predictable defenses. AEW is squandering weeks of storytelling with something lackluster made up of compelling parts. This wrestling promotion is too cold right now to go down this path.
Will Pruett writes about wrestling and popular culture at prowrestling.net. To see his video content subscribe to his YouTube channel. To contact, check him out on Bluesky @itswilltime, leave a comment, or email him at itswilltime@gmail.com.
“AEW does not have a babyface challenger strong enough for Jon Moxley.”
That’s hysterical. Ratings drop every single time Moxley is on TV. He’s not over, even with the rapidly shrinking AEW niche crowd, and the lack of strong babyfaces is meaningless when there’s nobody worth having them go over.
Spot on. He’s often too much of an AEW critic still, every time I think of this main event, I hear Cornette saying “Lllllllllllllazy booking.” not having a proper challenger lined up for Moxley reminds me of TK bringing in Cardona to challenge Jericho at the ROH PPV: you already have 40 people too many on your roster. Why are you bringing in outside people or booking multi-man matches for your top title fights? You have enough bodies to build up for months to challenge at your biggest shows.
I agree with you (even if I find Cornette obnoxious). It is lazy booking. The talent on AEW’s roster often feels locked in the same spots. A PPV main event against Mox could elevate someone…
Gee, you wrote negative stuff about AEW? Shocking.
Hi! I do write about AEW often. It’s my favorite wrestling product to watch and thus, I often write about ways to improve it. You can really enjoy something and also want it to be better.