AEW Five Fingers of Death 10/13 - 10/19

AEW WrestleDream 10/18/25

Darby Allin vs Jon Moxley (I Quit)

MD: So this had me, then it lost me, then it hooked me again, then it lost me, and I pretty much made it back for the finish. A bit like Moxley's year, yeah? Let's break it down. Moxley had just barely hung on at All Out in Darby's own gimmick match even after losing the title. He'd hit bottom and clung on thanks to reinforcements. In a world where Darby would have let him move on, maybe he'd be onward and upwards, taking a third swing at Hangman, going after Brodido, regaining the six-man belts, maybe refocusing for the C2 and Okada. 

But Darby wouldn't quit, he didn't quit, he couldn't quit. 

And Mox knew that. Yet here they were. 

There were ways out of this where Darby might have lost, most specifically if Sting's life was on the line. But then Sting's not normal and Darby's not normal and even that might not have worked. 

So if Darby wasn't going to quit under any circumstance, the match then was about Moxley punishing him for the sake of punishing him. There was to be no bottom. 

Moxley sees himself as a king, as truth, as a force that can mete out justice and push the world forward. He sees himself as a god. In a timely fashion, he sees himself as Inoki, a vengeful deity of struggle and conflict. Inoki was able to channel that with a certain purity of spirit though. Oh, there were lapses, like when he was in there against Maeda, but put him up against Saito, Choshu, Kimura, or even Fujinami, and there was an element of holy wrath at play.

But Jon Moxley is not Inoki. The cracks run deep, and through them, you can see glimpses of the vulnerable hypocrite within. 

What was he trying to accomplish here then? He wanted to punish Darby. He was riding the shaky confidence of beating Darby at his own game. Most of all, though, he wanted to prove to his followers and to the world that he was everything he said he was, that he could perform miracles.

And there's no greater miracle than making Darby Allin quit.

Darby planted his flag to start. Moxley stomped upon it. Darby scored the first points only for Shafir to involve herself and force the tide to turn. From there, the punishment began. Mouth, nose, ears. Soft, fragile bits. Hand, fingers, nails. A dismantling. An object lesson. All it took was one lapse, however, one bit of distance and Darby began to fire back. But then he overstretched as he so often did and slipped on the top rope, for Shafir to pull Mox away, and for Darby to wipe out on the apron (again).

I did find the first few minutes compelling. Maybe it was due to how Moxley was shifting up his offense, moving from one body part to another. But they did lose me somewhat here, as Mox whipped Darby in the ring, as Darby came back with mace and threatened immolation (again), as the Death Riders came out, as Darby held his own right until he didn't. 

Then they got me back. All it took was Claudio taking one sharp 180 degree turn. He had Darby up in a press slam. Claudio's strength is always impressive, but sometimes it feels like only Darby brings out something visceral and real within him. Claudio turning face and launching Darby into the announcer desk brought a vibrant color into the world, underpinned by Tony Schiavone's shout and Excalibur's whisper even as PAC dragged Darby's corpse around ringside. 

It wouldn't last. Part of the problem was that Jon Moxley did not have a miracle within him. There had been tasing. There was more punishment. The fishtank came into play. At one point they outright asked what would happen if Darby went unconscious. They'd just have to wake him up and try again. Sting's arrival felt like a mercy, but not for Darby. It felt like a mercy for Moxley, because the tower of babel he was building would never be high enough and he'd only look more the fool in his delusion. 

It was an onramp back into the match for me as well. Sting has that presence. Just pointing a bat, just throwing to Darby, that was enough. Mox demanded high and Darby went low, taking out the leg, defeating him soundly and quickly with a wrestling hold, a fitting conclusion for a hypocrite warrior. 

What are we left with then? It was a doomed match, one that couldn't easily follow the two tags that came before it (one goofus, one gallant). If Darby had been the aggressor throughout, maybe it would have been different, but the story here was of Moxley's ultimate hubris, of seeing himself as a god, when he is but a man. How we will remember this has a lot to do with where things go next.