AEW's Booking Of Jon Moxley Trades Short-Term Pain For Long-Term Gain
Jon Moxley winning the interim AEW World Championship was necessitated by an injury to CM Punk, and the company is leveraging this unforeseen opening by giving rubs to some of the roster's more underutilized talents. When Punk beat Hangman Adam Page atDouble Or Nothing, it seemed like fans were in line for the Summer Of Punk that they never got while he was in WWE. It wasn't meant to be this time around either, as the self-proclaimed Best In The World hurt his foot badly enough that it required surgery.
That opened the door for Moxley to win the interim World Championship in the main event of Forbidden Door, and if the last few weeks are any indication, The Death Rider has every intention of being a fighting champion. He was involved in the Blood & Guts match immediately after the crossover with NJPW, and then defended his title against Brody King. King won a royal rumble-style match to earn a shot at Moxley, and it seems like AEW will continue to showcase some outstanding but underworked wrestlers while Punk heals.
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AEW could have gone in two directions with Moxley as interim world champion. They could have stuck him in a main event-level feud with someone like Miro or Page. That could have lasted until Punk is ready to return, and at that point, Moxley could have finished the holdover feud and gotten down to the business of unifying the championship in a lengthy program with CM. Tony Khan decided to take this run in another direction, though, and while it might lead to some short-term pain in terms of long-term storytelling, this will be the right move when it comes to the big picture.
Instead of locking Moxley down in one individual feud, it seems
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