The AEW Championship match at All Out 2022 should pit Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley in a rematch that will take AEW to another level.
Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley
With the Interim AEW Championship currently in the hands of Jon Moxley, the best match AEW could book with the best story is Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley. The former rivals turned partners’ journey in AEW has been a whirlwinds, and the next part of the story could be the best yet.
When Eddie Kingston came into AEW, he quickly identified Jon Moxley as a rival in the ring. After climbing the ranks in AEW he became the number one contender for Moxley’s AEW Champion, the Mad King started an explosive rivalry with Moxley over the World Championship, something Kingston never managed to achieve in his career.
His match against Moxley was Eddie Kingston’s chance to finally achieve greatness. Throughout his life he had come close to winning the world title, but due to his own personal demons he had always been held back from reaching the top.
Drug and alcohol issues mixed with mental health problems have held Kingston back from being one of the biggest stars in wrestling. No-one in wrestling has the mic skills of Eddie Kingston, or the raw believability to get behind him no matter.
Eddie Kingston shares similarities with Mick Foley, the former WWE star who overcome the odds to become the WWE Champion multiple times. Kingston is older than Foley when he first retired from the ring, meaning that Kingston has a tougher time to reach the top of the mountain like Foley did as “Mankind”.
Eddie Kingston revealed in an interview that he intends to become a world champion, stating that he’ll “never be satisfied” until he becomes the AEW Champion and becomes a “top guy” in wrestling.
“No, I’m never happy [with my position], but that’s what drives me. I’m not mad [Kingston laughed]. I have had my situation, I can tell you that much, you know what I mean? I’m not mad at that situation. I’m not happy because I’m not satisfied, because I’m still working. I’m not the top guy in my mind and I’m old school in this sense, the top guy’s the world champ, doesn’t matter who it is. That’s my opinion.
It looks like the way he is going to become AEW Champion is by defeating his former tag team partner Jon Moxley. Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley is the match that AEW should book to main event All Out, should CM Punk still be out with an injury for the next few months.
While many are saying that CM Punk vs Jon Moxley should be the main event of All Out, the story between Moxley and Kingston would more emotional and entertaining, and would eventually lead to another Eddie Kingston vs CM Punk match for the undisputed AEW Championship.
Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match
Jon Moxley vs Eddie Kingston happened twice already in AEW, during Moxley’s first reign with the AEW Championship. They main evented Full Gear 2020 after Moxley defeated Kingston in a match on AEW Dynamite. In a brutal and bloody I Quit match, Moxley forced his rival to give up his chance at the AEW Championship and submit to the champ.
The pair went through some brutal moments, including some of the best promos in AEW history. The pair traded barbs inside the ring, with Kingston even claiming that his pursuit of greatness is “the reason my mother doesn’t have grandchildren”.
After Eddie Kingston was humiliated by Moxley at Full Gear 2020, the pair stayed apart from each other for some months. Moxley moved on to feud with Kenny Omega, who he would lose his title for just a month after at AEW Winter is Coming. His rematch would be at AEW Revolution the following year in a first time match stipulation for AEW – The Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match.
It was a match type taken from Japan and featured an absurd amount of violence. Moxley and Omega were battered and bruised by barbed wire, trash cans and explosions, with all the ring ropes replaced by barbed wire.
Kenny Omega defeated Moxley and left him in the ring to die as the clock counted down to the explosion. As Jon Moxley lay in the ring and clock ticked down, Eddie Kingston ran down to the ring and smothered Jon Moxley to protect him from the blast.
While the explosion was anti-climatic, the gesture from Kingston was huge. He risked his life for a man he once called friend and showed what kind of man he could be. The pair soon grew close again, becoming a tag team for some months before eventually drifting apart but remaining as close friends on TV.
This is where the story should go from. Eddie Kingston, finally on the level on the AEW Champion after huge wins over stars like Chris Jericho and feuds with CM Punk, taking on Jon Moxley not as the underdog, but as an equal.
The rivalry would be more friendly this time, but no less intense. Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley will be an incredible match between two friends and tell a story of the pursuit of ones goal turning a man from a loveable loser to the top of the mountain for the first time in his career.
I think Kingston should win. He should defeat Jon Moxley to become the AEW World Champion. He is due the victory and has put on some of the best performances ever seen in wrestling. The image of him at Double or Nothing 2022, covered in blood and carrying a petrol can, ready to murder Chris Jericho without remorse, is an image that will last long in the minds of fans.
Plus, this would immediately set up another huge match. Eddie Kingston vs CM Punk for the unified AEW Championship. Kingston finally reaching the top just to be interrupted by a returning Punk would be the start of CM Punk’s teased heel turn and would be a story AEW could run for 6 months and catapult them onto the level of WWE and NJPW.
That is, if instead of Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley, we see the Mad King move to WWE instead…
Eddie Kingston to WWE?
It is unlikely that Eddie Kingston will move to WWE. He is doing his best work in AEW at the moment and benefitting greatly with the freedom he is given. Looking at how much better Jon Moxley is than Dean Ambrose, seeing the drop in quality for Kingston would be a huge disappointment.
Eddie Kingston once talked about receiving an offer from WWE and revealed why he turned down WWE in an interview with Swerve Strickland. On an episode of the Swerve City Podcast, Eddie Kingston spoke about being offered a job as a coach at the NXT Performance Centre and revealed why he turned down WWE.
“I didn’t want to collect the paycheck I didn’t earn, you know what I mean? Because I knew if I was there, if I was there, and I had that resentment of ‘I know I have ten more good years, I know I’m better than what, they’re not giving me a chance, let me go.’”
“If a football player or amateur wrestler walks in and the machine (WWE) is behind them all the way, and they want me to help him and teach him, I’m not going to. But if I do, if I do, I’m going to be a piece of s—. Cause I’m going to be resentful of him.“
Eddie Kingston is self aware enough to know his limitations as a human, which is something that has made him such a beloved figure in AEW. He knows what he can and cannot do as a wrestler, and simply does what he knows best and does it better than everyone else.
The fans deserve to see Eddie Kingston at the top of the card. The way to do this is Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley, followed by a blockbuster match against CM Punk to solidify him as a main event star.