Jon Moxley

Following the expiration of his WWE contract, Matt Hardy interacted with The Young Bucks on the latest episode of his YouTube series Free the Delete. 

In Wednesday's episode, Hardy began by speaking to someone on the phone, and by the end of the episode, Nick and Matt Jackson arrived at his compound to which Hardy replied, "Bucks of Youth, I knew you'd come."

Hardy announced his departure from WWE this week and WWE later confirmed the news. That led to speculation that Hardy would sign elsewhere, such as All Elite Wrestling.

The Young Bucks are executive vice presidents for AEW, so while no official announcement has been made regarding Hardy's status, it is strongly suggested that he has either signed with AEW or at least agreed to work with the company in some capacity.

Due to the timing of the video, there is also reason to believe that Hardy could potentially appear on Wednesday night's episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT.

Hardy has plenty of history with The Young Bucks, as he and his brother, Jeff, had some classic matches against them in Ring of Honor and other independent promotions.

Ever since Hardy expressed frustration with a lack of creative freedom in WWE over the past several weeks and months, fans have discussed the possibility of Hardy joining AEW and being revealed as the leader of Dark Order.

Perhaps that will come to fruition as soon as Wednesday, but even if that is not in the plans, Hardy would be a huge addition to AEW given his experience and mind for the business.

Former WWE Superstars such as Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Cody have already found great success in AEW, so perhaps Hardy will be the latest to make that transition.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Jon Moxley is clearly happy with his move to All Elite Wrestling after winning the world heavyweight championship Saturday night.

Speaking to Wrestling Inc, the former WWE champion (as Dean Ambrose) seemingly took a shot at his former organization when discussing a previous conversation with AEW vice president Cody Rhodes (4:29 in video, warning: NSFW language):

"A year ago, we had a conversation on the phone and [Cody] said, 'let's bring pro wrestling back. Pro wrestling that you grew up on! Not crap, not sports entertainment, not scripted canned horse crap. Pro wrestling!" Moxley said.

"We brought that back," he added.

Moxley defeated Chris Jericho for the title at AEW Revolution, putting him on top of the organization less than a year after joining last May.  

The Moxley era has begun. 

So went the most notable final call from All Elite Wrestling's Revolution pay-per-view Saturday night after Jon Moxley dethroned Chris Jericho to win the promotion's top title. 

It was a poetic win, really, after a longer-than-expected chase for one of the top names in the wrestling world today. AEW did a smooth job of keeping Moxley out of the title scene for as long as possible before throwing him in there and delaying his win. 

But the match was a classical one in many ways, and it was only right it ended with Moxley holding the belt high. It had a little bit of everything, with Jericho's Inner Circle throwing out some help before getting ejected. It bloodied both men. It had the bad guy exploiting lapses from the referee and using his opponent's injuries to his advantage. 

And in a way, Moxley pulled one over again on Jericho, playing up the villain's cocky ways and using it against him. Much like Moxley fooled Jericho about joining his Inner Circle in the buildup to this one, he also revealed he was just playing possum with the eye injury the whole time. 

That's the type of fun stuff the Moxley character can do free from the constraints of a more conservative promotion and why he's often the recipient of the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin comparisons. 

Even better, as Moxley said in his post-win address to the fans, it all justifies the journey here. He bet it all on leaving WWE and went from being the goofy character who had to do questionable promos while never really getting that one big push to the headline act in perhaps all of wrestling. 

Rest assured Moxley made sure his address was all about the fans. His gratitude was incredibly genuine, and the title win does indeed belong to them given the incredible support AEW has received. But it goes both ways—a Moxley unchained can drive a whole promotion to unexpected heights and keep it there. 

Which is what makes the future so exciting, right? Where do things go from here? Moxley is the champion, and fans know he'll defend it against anyone at any time. The feud possibilities are literally endless, especially if Cody's unexpected loss to MJF opens up the latter to shooting into the main event. 

There's a Jericho rematch to consider, of course. But any number of stars from the roster can now go right up the ladder and get in a bout with a guy who won't be afraid to put his title on the line or come up with excuses. Said challengers won't have to worry about a posse ambushing him, either. 

Understand Jericho is still a part of the excitement for the future too, for what it's worth. He doesn't need the title to be effective. Everything he has touched since Dynamite went on the air has been absolute gold. Even if he's not chasing Moxley—though chase-mode Jericho would be fun—the undeniable result is must-see Jericho segments. 

Jericho or otherwise, it feels like we're just beginning what could end up being a golden era for AEW. Moxley now gets to run a promotion as he sees fit from the very top. This isn't a WWE title reign littered with 50-50 booking and throwing the same old names against each other. It's about the long haul, and like Cody and other top names such as Kenny Omega, Moxley isn't going to be afraid to make other talent look great for the sake of the promotion over the long haul. 

While Moxley going after the title in a loose-cannon fashion encouraged fans to tune in each week, actual title-defense Moxley only moves the needle more for Dynamite on a weekly basis. If and when he loses, though we're a long, long time from it, the eventual person to dethrone him will become a top star too. 

For now in the immediate aftermath, Moxley the character was ready to go slam some beers as the pay-per-view went off the air. Fans can just take solace in the fact a feud ended at the proper time, kicked off the start of a new era and is led up by a guy with the upside of putting on the outright best possible title reign of any promotion right now. 

It isn't necessarily full circle for Jon Moxley, but the road he's traveled so far has certainly been validated after cementing his place in AEW—he's still working on cementing his spot in wrestling history. 

Jon Moxley beat Chris Jericho at AEW Revolution in Chicago on Saturday to become the second AEW world champion in the company's brief history.

Moxley hit Jericho with a Paradigm Shift to take the belt.

The pair have been at each other's throats for the past few months, and Moxley finally got his chance to go one-on-one with the leader of The Inner Circle with the AEW world title on the line at Revolution.

When it became clear shortly after Full Gear on November 9 that Moxley had his sights set on the AEW World Championship, Jericho attempted to befriend him and essentially convince him not to challenge for the title.

Jericho offered Moxley a spot in The Inner Circle and a new car, and it initially looked as though he would accept after he considered the invite for a few weeks.

After Moxley said he was in, though, he hit Le Champion in the head with a champagne bottle and ran out of the ring before the rest of The Inner Circle could get to him.

That made Moxley public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Jericho and The Inner Circle, especially after he beat Sammy Guevara for the right to fight for the AEW World Championship No. 1 contendership.

Jericho tried to put Moxley out of commission by taking a spike off his jacket and sticking it in his eye. That forced Moxley to wear a bandage and a patch over his eye, but it didn't stop him from beating PAC on Jericho's cruise on January 22 to become No. 1 contender.

Moxley even got some measure of revenge a couple of weeks ago when he poked the eye of Inner Circle member Santana with a car key and forced him to wear a patch as well.

With Moxley mowing down the stable and getting closer to Jericho, Le Champion enlisted services of free-agent wrestler Jeff Cobb, who attacked Moxley after he beat Santana and then faced him the following week on Dynamite.

Since Moxley is something of a lone wolf and was going up against an entire stable led by Jericho, the odds were very much stacked against the challenger entering Revolution.

Moxley is used to overcoming the odds, though, and he did precisely that to end Jericho's nearly 200-day title reign Saturday.

Since Jericho is scheduled to tour with his band, Fozzy, beginning in April, it made sense to take the title off him, and the decision may see him take a break from AEW programming soon.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).