AEW Five Fingers of Death 9/15 - 9/21 (Part 1?)

AEW All Out 9/20/25

Eddie Kingston vs Big Bill

MD: Eddie Kingston was out for over sixteen months. He comes back, stands tall, throws chops, and runs right into a big boot. 

That's Eddie Kingston for you.

Look, I had it in my head that Eddie could move a needle. He connects with the audience. He's the most human wrestler there is. If Hangman's greatest strength is his relatability, Eddie has it ten times more. I think it's time at 43 for him to shift from the pillars to Inoki and Jumbo, but he chases what he loves and he'll chase it forever, and there's nothing more compelling in wrestling than the chase. 

So yeah, I wanted "The Mad King's Return" or something like that, a themed show, because if the company makes a big deal out of something, there's a chance the audience feels like it's a big deal. If they don't make a big deal out of it, then there's no chance. It's the same thing with Orange Cassidy, by the way. Hyping him up as a wink wink mystery partner on Wednesday is fine. But it slots him. It limits him. A return is a chance to reset, and the most important thing in wrestling isn't 5-star matches in and of themselves, but instead how those 5-star matches are presented. If you do something amazing, if you have an amazing wrestler, hype it and frame it and let it breathe and let it matter.

If you look at the history of AEW, Eddie's the most reliable second match wrestler in the world. 

And here he was now, second match on the card, running into a boot.

I bet you're wondering how he got here.

But you're not. Because you know Eddie and it's more or less exactly where you expected him. He rose to the top of the world and then he fell as far as one could fall. 16 months out. And that spot? The one that took him out? It felt inevitable. He'd lost two of his titles. He was about to lose the third. 

But what did he do? He didn't hang it up. He didn't call it quits. He saw Homicide riding off into the sunset and felt like he had to right the balance, like the hole was too big.

And now he's back. Maybe he sold some tickets because they announced him. He missed All In, wasn't there for the surprises and returns to help vanquish Mox. Mox is still in front of him. Another inevitability. 

Instead, he's here, in Toronto, second match on the card, against someone else with a chip on his shoulder that called him out.

And he's running into a boot.

Bill's good at living in the moment. He's good at expressing that chip, making the most of it. He mocked Eddie, mocked the fans, paintbrushed him with his foot. 

But then, Eddie's used to that. He took, and he took, and he took. He took all that life had to throw at him. Then he got up, and he fired back, and he won.

Maybe Eddie didn't get up too high on those Black Hole Slams. Maybe that second Uraken didn't quite hit. Maybe he ran into a big boot. Two actually.

But you see, Eddie's back and he's just getting started. He's rebuilding. He fell so damn far after climbing so high, and he's got a ways to go. 

And whether he'd admit it, or whether he'll believe it, or whether he'd even want it to be the truth, he's going to carry each and every one of us on his back as he climbs. 

And he'll fill that hole in the world like only Eddie Kingston can.

That's not inevitable. It's damn hard work. 

But we can count on him to do it anyway.

Eddie Kingston, everyone.

-------

Darby Allin vs Jon Moxley [Coffin Match]

MD: This is a story about a man with his back against the wall. Jon Moxley crossed lines that can't be uncrossed. He made claims and didn't back them up. He didn't need to back them up. It's 2025. Might equals right, right? 

Only so much as people keep their head down, only so much as people fall in line, only so much as people don't fight back.

Darby Allin got pushed down a flight of stairs, climbed to the top of the world, and then came back to fight. 

He helped Hangman Page defeat Jon Moxley (though, paradoxically, in every way that mattered, Page defeated him on his own, and at the same time, in every way that mattered, Jon Moxley defeated himself. It was quite the night). 

And now Jon Moxley is left without a title, a king without a kingdom, with a hungry army to feed, no harvest before him, a cold, harsh winter on its way. 

His back's against the wall, and those walls? They're closing in. 

One on each side, top, bottom, left, right. Death itself. A coffin.

Darby Allin's signature match. The perfect match for a man who chases death to feel alive.

The consequences of his actions, of the price he was willing to pay (that he paid with his soul as his enemies paid with their bodies) finally caught up to Moxley. 

He emerged with his usual swagger only to find Darby waiting for him in ambush. Like always, Darby turned his own body into a weapon, leaping from above. Darby moved with abandon. Every assault outside the ring did as much damage to him as to his foe. Even a dropkick would leave him broken upon the arena steps. A dive into the coffin would shatter not just his bones and Moxley's, but the coffin itself. 

In a match strewn with symbolism, a coffin barely held together, barely able to be closed, was the perfect centerpiece. 

As was Moxley bleeding from the ear, another piece of revenge, and not the last of the night either, but a well that Darby could go back to again and again to counteract the size and focus and cruelty of Mox. 

The Death Riders came out when Mox had an advantage. They watched as he and Shafir stumbled in bringing the coffin into the ring, only then managing it with their help. Symbols upon symbols. He sent them back, all of them, for he felt victory well in hand and didn't want to share in the glory.

Allin was ready though, a fork hidden in the turnbuckle, a plastic bag held by Bryan Danielson, a man who could no longer do what needed to be done thanks to Moxley, but that could enable Allin, could nod in solemn approval, as the last parenthesis was closed, and balance was restored to the world.

But Moxley is a sore on all that's right and good. His violence is one thing, but there's a hypothetical purity to that. 

No, it's his hypocrisy which pushes the world off balance. He sent the Death Riders back but kept an ace up his sleeve, a bastard ready to strike.

The fans popped for the surprise. They chanted at a key moment. Details matter. This Toronto crowd especially was going to lean towards sentiment, even in the face of serious drama. Looking back, having PAC ambush Darby a week ago and having Garcia turn here was likely the better play. Details Matter.

But no one's going to remember the "He's Our Bastard" chants down the line. They'll remember Mox's defining hypocrisy though. 

Jon Moxley lost his kingdom. His back's against the wall. The consequences of his actions continue to come for him. But he escaped death on this night, though it remains, as it will always remain, just one step behind him.