At AEW Full Gear 2020, Kenny Omega defeated Adam ‘Hangman’ Page in the Finals of the Number One Contender’s Tournament. With AEW World Champion, Jon Moxley, successfully surviving his “I Quit” match with Eddie Kingston, it seems confirmed and set that Omega and Moxley will face one another in the main event of AEW Revolution 2021.
The fact it was one year prior at AEW Full Gear 2019 that Omega lost to Moxley in a Lights Out Match, beginning Omega’s fall from the main event and focus on the tag team division, gives it a feeling of symmetry. But what if Omega and Moxley weren’t to face one another at AEW Revolution, but on AEW Dynamite?
AEW’s PPV history presents an interesting possibility that these two may not face on PPV, especially if you look over the next year. There have been previous events where wrestlers earned the opportunity to challenge for a vacant championship, such as Page and Nyla Rose winning their respective Casino Battle Royale matches, or Chris Jericho and Riho defeating Kenny Omega and Hikaru Shida respectively. However, the first ever time that a PPV match was dedicated to naming a Number One Contender to challenge a champion, was in May of this year.
At Double Or Nothing 2020, the debuting Brian Cage won the Casino Ladder Match, earning a future AEW World Championship match, on the same night that Jon Moxley defended his championship against Mr Brodie Lee. However, rather than the match occurring at All Out 2020¸ instead the match was booked for a special episode of AEW Dynamite called Fyter Fest, with Maxwell Jacob Friedman then challenging Moxley for the championship at All Out 2020.
Now, a one-off occurrence might be seen as just that, a one-off, except that on the same night that MJF lost to Moxley, Lance Archer won a 21-Man Casino Battle Royale match, making him the latest Number One Contender. It seemed Archer was being primed for a main event championship match at Full Gear 2020, and yet, the match was saved for October 14th, the one-year anniversary special of Dynamite. Instead, the man Archer eliminated to win the Battle Royale, Eddie Kingston, went on to challenge for the AEW Championship at AEW Full Gear 2020.
The intention behind this seems to be to continue making AEW Dynamite feel like must-see television, making event television that rewards fans. Having done this twice in a row, it has become almost a trait, showing big title matches on television while still building to their huge PPVs that occur only four times a year. To combat the lack of monthly PPVs, AEW utilises Special Episodes, such as last year’s Thanksgiving episode where Chris Jericho defended the AEW World Championship against Scorpio Sky.
With AEW’s love of symmetry and storytelling however, it’s more likely that a New Year’s Day Special or even the Anniversary edition of the inaugural press conference on January 8th, which this year had Riho defend the AEW Women’s World Championship against Kris Statlander. You’re unlikely to get much bigger title matches for a special episode than a rematch between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. The ratings alone can only be imagined, although there will probably be those who think it means that Moxley will retain, like against Cage, and Archer before him?
Except there is that infamous story trope, the Rule of Three, where the first two times build to the twist of the third. It could be The Rock losing his first two matches at WrestleMania against ’Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and finally winning the third time. It could be The Young Bucks losing to Private Party in the Tag Team Tournament, losing to Page and Omega at AEW Revolution 2020, and finally winning the titles at AEW Full Gear 2020. Or in this example, it could be that on Moxley’s third major title defence on AEW Dynamite against a Number One Contender, he finally drops the championship, in a moment that shocks the world.
There has always been discussions on Kenny Omega as one of the best in the world, and since losing the Tag Team Championships to F.T.R., he is reputed to be planned as a major singles star in 2021. If 2020 can be classed as The Year Of Moxley, ending the year with the championship transitioning to Omega on a Special Episode of AEW Dynamite might be the perfect kick-off for The Year Of Omega.
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