MJF Defeats Jon Moxley, Wins AEW World Title at Full Gear 2022
MJF defeated Jon Moxley in the main event of Full Gear on Saturday night to win the AEW World Championship for the first time in his career.
The ending sequence began with MJF pulling out the Dynamite Diamond Ring, but a furious William Regal stormed ringside and told him not to use it. That led to MJF flipping Regal off.
Moxley ended up getting the upper hand, though, and even got MJF to submit via a chokehold, but referee Bryce Remsburg, who had been knocked out earlier with a Moxley lariat, was still recovering. The same went for replacement ref Paul Turner, who got knocked out later in the match.
Eventually, Regal slid a pair of brass knuckles to MJF, telling him it was the only way he would win. Sure enough, MJF knocked out Moxley with the knucks and hid them in his tights. At this point, Remsburg woke up in time for a three-count to give MJF the belt.
Moxley lost despite hitting an avalanche Paradigm Shift as well as a piledriver off the apron and onto a table below:
In the end, though, MJF capped the night by leaving the arena with the title.
For essentially his entire time with All Elite Wrestling, MJF had been in pursuit of the AEW world title, and he received one of his biggest opportunities yet at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The 26-year-old assured himself an AEW World Championship match in September at All Out when he entered the Casino ladder match as a surprise participant under a mask and won with help from The Firm.
At the conclusion of All Out, after CM Punk beat Moxley for the AEW World Championship, MJF revealed himself as the man behind the mask and seemingly signaled that he would be going after Punk and the title.
Prior to appearing at All Out, MJF had been off AEW programming for a few months. His absence was a result of what occurred the weekend of Double or Nothing and the ensuing episode of Dynamite in May.
The Salt of the Earth did not show up for the Double or Nothing fanfest, leading to rumors he would no-show his match against Wardlow. He did show up but was beaten soundly in a squash.
On the post-Double or Nothing episode of Dynamite, MJF cut a scathing promo about AEW President Tony Khan and the company as a whole, which led to it removing him from its website as part of an angle.
The heel eventually returned as expected, but the apparent plan for his title feud was thrown for a loop when Punk was suspended and stripped of the championship in the wake of a reported backstage altercation with The Elite after All Out.
The promotion subsequently held a tournament to determine a new titleholder, and Moxley became AEW world champ for an unprecedented third time by beating Bryan Danielson in the finals.
With Mox holding the belt once again, MJF turned his attention toward him and made it clear that he intended to become the face of AEW once and for all.
He did that by beating Moxley, and the question now becomes whether the title win will convince him to stay with AEW long-term, or if he will test free agency in 2024 and consider jumping to WWE.
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