The 12 Most Unforgettable WWE, AEW Moments from Historic Week

The most memorable week in modern wrestling history saw a controversial conclusion to WWE Raw, All Elite Wrestling's incredibly successful premiere on TNT, several returns to NXT, and SmackDown's arrival on Fox.

The events of those shows generated excitement about the professional wrestling industry that, quite frankly, had not existed since the height of the Monday Night Wars during the late 1990s.

And all of that was before Sunday's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, in which Seth Rollins defended the Universal Championship against The Fiend and when Becky Lynch put her Raw Women's Championship on the line against Sasha Banks, both inside the titular steel structure.

Which moments from the respective events stood out the most and why?

Find out with this recap from the monumentally buzzworthy week that was.

All Out should have featured one of the most talked-about matches of the year in Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley.

Unfortunately for the artist formerly known as Dean Ambrose, a battle with MRSA forced the cancellation of the hotly anticipated contest and his removal from that card in August. Wednesday night in the nation's capital, Moxley made a stunning return to AEW, attacking Omega during the Six-Man Tag Team main event.

From there, he brawled with The Best Bout Machine out of the arena and into the VIP area, where he proceeded to drive his scheduled opponent at Full Gear through a glass coffee table.

The high spot served as the escalation of their rivalry and was a physical response from Moxley to Omega, who verbally bashed him upon the announcement of their match cancellation. It was a moment that needed to happen to reignite their rivalry and remind fans of their intense grudge match on November 9 in Baltimore.

After months of conflict between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon, the rebellious Superstar and his employer brought their feud to a close in a high-stakes ladder match that would result in the loser's dismissal from WWE.

A hard-hitting, high-risk match saw McMahon drive Owens through an announce table with his trademark top-rope elbow drop and then break out Coast-to-Coast with the assistance of a ladder later in the contest.

Owens survived, thrived and delivered a frog splash that put his rival through a ladder. A powerbomb onto another unforgiving ladder essentially eliminated McMahon from the bout and allowed Owens to retrieve the briefcase hanging high overhead and send the oppressive authority figure packing.

Owen's triumphant victory came in front of a massive viewing audience and wrapped up a program that needed to be finished back in August at SummerSlam. As it is, it was a great way to put that chapter of SmackDown history behind us so that the blue brand can move on to bigger, brighter and more compelling things in weeks and months to come.

The Universal Championship match between Seth Rollins and Rusev on Monday night was interrupted by the return of "The All Mighty" Bobby Lashley, followed by a previously unfathomable kiss between the former intercontinental champion and The Bulgarian Brute's wife, Lana.

The blatant unfaithfulness on display seemed to usher in an edgier, more soap opera-oriented creative direction not seen in nearly 20 years. It was a booking decision that appeared to come from out of nowhere,  but it returned the element of the unpredictable and spontaneous to a show that has had neither of those in a very long time.

The moment had the WWE Universe buzzing on social media, almost at the expense of The Fiend's attack on Seth Rollins that closed out the show moments later.

The question now is whether or not WWE Creative can build on it and deliver a consistent storyline fans can invest in. If the answer is "no," the drama will crash and burn very much in the same way the program involving Mike and Maria Kanellis did after its red-hot start.

If the answer is "yes," the red brand may have on its hands a prime example of the booking that will strike a nerve with audiences and provide the groundwork for a creative renaissance under one of the most celebrated minds in wrestling history, Paul Heyman.

The Hell in a Cell pay-per-view kicked off with a Match of the Year candidate as Becky Lynch defeated Sasha Banks in just over 23 minutes to successfully retain her Raw Women's Championship.

The match, the result of an intense rivalry, featured stellar storytelling by two of the premier performers in all of WWE.

More than once, the commentary team made reference to Banks' creativity and punishment she would bring. Over the course of the match, that creativity had the challenger in control of the bout. Then, late on, The Man turned it against her.

Banks had introduced a pile of chairs to the match and looked to drive her opponent into them in what would be one last-gasp effort to win the title. Lynch, though, met her on the ropes and delivered a wicked super Bexploder suplex onto them. From there, she tapped Banks out to retain her title.

And ironically enough, Banks was left on the arena floor, with tears in her eyes and her championship aspirations crushed by the surging Lynch.

The intensity, physicality and creativity came together to create one of the best bouts of the entire year and one that felt like a genuinely worthwhile Hell in a Cell match. Considering what would happen later in the evening, it was a bout that absolutely needed to deliver, and thanks to the efforts of the talents involved, it did.

Arguably the best match on the debut episode of Dynamite saw Riho and Nyla Rose battle for the right to etch their names in the history books as the first AEW women's champion. A dramatic battle between two talented performers, the match sucked the fans in with strong near-falls and a simple David vs. Goliath storyline.

Rose starred, unleashing her fury on her much smaller opponent, while Riho excelled as the resilient babyface unwilling to let her championship aspirations slip away in such a high-profile encounter. She built momentum, unloaded on Rose with a double-knee attack and put The Native Beast away in what should be a highlight-reel match for both.

The historic moment was followed by an infuriated Rose's wrath, suggesting the issues between champion and foe are not over.

Given the emotional roller coaster they took fans on, that is not a bad thing by any means.

NXT may not have won the week's ratings war with AEW, but it presented a show with two electrifying returns that will shape the future of the brand for the foreseeable future.

Moments after Adam Cole defeated Matt Riddle to successfully retain his NXT Championship, Finn Balor made a shocking and unexpected return to the brand that made him a star stateside. Confronting the top star on the roster, he announced he is NXT—a power play to say the least.

Later that night, as Cole's Undisputed Era teammates Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly celebrated their victory over The Street Profits, Tommaso Ciampa walked onto the stage for the first time since March and stared the world champion down.

The undisputed champion of this Undisputed Era, Cole now has two challengers poised to chase him into the coming weeks and months in NXT. Balor and Ciampa are dynamic performers around whom an entire promotion can be built. In fact, it was not all that long ago The Blackheart stood atop that mountain and Balor was one of the building blocks of the brand upon his arrival in 2015.

They bring name value and credibility to NXT and will help bolster a roster that is clearly in for a battle with AEW over on TNT every Wednesday night.

Kofi Kingston lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar in 10 seconds Friday night.

Let that sink in for a minute.

After the emotional moment that was Kingston's title win in April at WrestleMania and a series of championship defenses that helped him build credibility for his main event run, he was treated as an afterthought.

One of the longest tenured Superstars on the current full-time roster was sacrificed to set up a showdown between two UFC heavyweight attractions that may be good for one, maybe two main event matches inside a Vince McMahon-owned ring.

At the very most.

Kingston's peers voiced their support for the former champion across social media, and the classy competitor himself spoke to WWE.com in an exclusive backstage interview. Yet, no matter how much support is shown to Kingston or how much gratitude he expresses for the opportunity, the entire ordeal left a bad taste in the audience's mouth despite a largely entertaining broadcast that preceded it.

Chris Jericho has long been a master manipulator. He is a cunning villain and that was on full display this week on Dynamite.

Jericho, teaming with Ortiz and Santana in a Six-Man Tag Team main event, brought together the former LAX, Sammy Guevara and the debuting Jake Hager to form a faction that will have long-reaching effects on the creative direction of AEW.

What looks, on paper, like a hodgepodge of talent thrown together is actually a united front hellbent on dominating the industry and making life a living hell for the very AEW founders who failed to properly thank Jericho for his contributions to the company.

It is an easy premise to follow: a team-based warfare storyline that will engross fans and build young stars in the process.

The wrestler with the most to gain?

Young Sammy Guevara, who broke out with a stellar in-ring performance against Cody in the first match in Dynamite history, will undoubtedly earn credibility and legitimacy from working alongside the likes of The American Nightmare, his brother Dustin Rhodes, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega going forward. 

In 1999, WWE launched a network television product for the first time since Saturday's Main Event. The show, SmackDown, was named after one of The Rock's most prominent catch phrases and would launch him into superstardom.

Friday night on Fox, he returned to the show that helped make him a household name and lent his star power and name value to Becky Lynch and King Corbin in an explosive show-opening segment.

The Great One and The Man took turns ragging on the 2019 King of the Ring before teaming up for a two-on-one beatdown of the former Raw general manager. The Rock Bottom was an exclamation point on the segment.

More than the electrifying way to kick off the show, Rock's appearance confirmed Lynch's status as the face of WWE. Not Roman Reigns. Not Seth Rollins. Lynch, the attitudinal Raw women's champion who took the industry by storm last fall and continued right on through a historic WrestleMania main event in April.

The Man has become the focal point of marketing, merchandising and advertising, and it is no surprise that she was the first Superstar through the curtain on the Fox debut. Expect her to make the jump in the WWE draft and become one of the faces of the company's stint on the network.

Regardless of one's feelings on Brock Lesnar's win over Kofi Kingston, there is no denying the impact Cain Velasquez's debut and confrontation with the new WWE champion had.

The MMA fighter who dethroned Lesnar as UFC's heavyweight champion and resident badass marched to the ring alongside Rey Mysterio and took The Beast down, pounding away at his familiar foe. The debut sparked social media views and discussion about a potential match between the two.

Velasquez's showdown with Lesnar drummed up the media attention WWE officials so covet and ended the Fox debut of SmackDown on a high note. In that regard, it worked. Now, it will be up to officials to build a match that sustains the electricity the feud has right now.

The newcomer has trained and competed in professional wrestling over the last few years, including some appearances for AAA out of Mexico. From that perspective, he will be fine. Whether he can handle his end of a big-match build on the mic, especially in WWE's most scripted atmosphere, is the question whose answer will go a long way in determining the overall success of the program. 

WWE apologists will look at the disqualification finish in Sunday's Hell in a Cell match for the Universal Championship and claim it was an expertly booked affair aimed at adding layers to an underdeveloped Seth Rollins character.

After all, he was visibly torn on whether or not to continue his descent into darkness as he inflicted pain and suffering on The Fiend, only to watch as the challenger rose from the mat time and time again.

Those fans are actively trying to make chicken salad out of chicken crap.

All WWE Creative had to do was book a finish in which The Fiend overcame Rollins' onslaught, applied the Mandible Claw and put him down to win the title. The company booked the match knowing full well the only acceptable and effective conclusion was The Fiend's coronation, yet it had no intention of delivering that finish.

Instead, it booked a disqualification finish inside Hell in a Cell that left fans booing the company and its decision well after the show went off the air, Sean "X-Pac" Waltman openly questioning the logic on WWE's own Watch Along, and The Young Bucks' Matt Jackson reminding fans to check out AEW's Dynamite on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.

It was a booking decision that threatened the goodwill that The Fiend character had built with fans as the undisputed best element of WWE programming. More importantly, it killed any and all momentum the company had created for itself with a tremendous NXT broadcast last Wednesday and an incredibly successful SmackDown debut on Fox.

The company now limps into a new week when it will have to go all-out to book a suitable follow-up to an all-time bad-booking decision or risk ruining Bray Wyatt's latest incarnation, just as it had his previous persona.

For now, the moments ranks high on this list for all the wrong reasons.

The wrestling landscape was forever altered at 8 p.m. ET on October 2 as All Elite Wrestling's Dynamite hit TNT airwaves.

For the first time in 18 years, Vince McMahon and WWE had direct competition from a rival wrestling promotion as their NXT brand squared off with the upstart company, owned and operated by Tony Khan, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.

The presentation was stellar, the commentary team of Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross and Excalibur appeared to be having a ball, and the efforts from the performers were top-shelf.

There will always be little improvements to be made here and there, regardless of the episode number, but for a first-time presentation on a major cable TV network, it was about as perfect a night as the company could have asked for.

Tune into TNT on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET to catch all the action of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite.