After a 21-minute chaotic street fight that was violent and included no shortage of cameos or weapons, Jon Moxley left this week’s episode of Dynamite still with the AEW World Championship still in his possession.
With the help of the Death Riders faction, along with Kip Sabian and Nick Wayne, Moxley retained his title against Cope in a Street Fight match this week. The bout was a rematch from Revolution, where Cope won in a singles match to close out the pay-per-view.
Mox and Cope delivered early on the street fight theme, as the challenger got the jump on the champion while outside the venue. The match went into hallways and then through the crowd, eventually leading to ringside, where the majority of it went down.
Steel chairs, tables, and Cope’s personal favorite weapon, Spike (a black two-by-four with spikes on the end of it), all made appearances as part of the match. Moxley in particular took a nasty move onto Spike, causing the weapon to be stuck on his back until it was ripped off him.
The match was heavy on run-ins near the end. Mox supporters Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, PAC and Marina Shafir all made their returns, coming back for the first time they were taken out by Cope and his friends.
However, to even things up, FTR and Willow Nightingale showed up to help Cope win.
Cope came close to ending the match with a spear through the table, however, Shafir stopped Cope from following up with a pin attempt. A cutter from Wayne allowed Mox to get a two-count pin attempt. Moments later, Mox ended the bout by applying a bulldog choke.
FTR’s Dax Harwood expressed frustration after the match, refusing to help Cope up and eventually storming away from the ring alone.
The win for Moxley confirms that he’ll be the one to face Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at Dynasty next month.
At 159 days, Moxley’s title reign is the sixth-longest in AEW world title history and is 33 days away from surpassing the stint Chris Jericho put in as the inaugural champ in 2019.
