Darby Allin
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AEW has played a game of how far can we take things for a long time now with their storytelling. Weâ€ve seen houses burned down, people hanged, and plastic bags used to suffocate an opponent, among other outlandishly creative ways to inflict harm or threaten deadly harm. The list of things you normally wouldnâ€t see in a mainstream wrestling promotion has grown larger as AEW COO and booker Tony Khan attempts to push as far as they can go when it comes to booking violent content in a medium that is supposed to be based on sport and competition.
Khan really pushed things during the Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley feud, which culminated in an I Quit match at WrestleDream last weekend. We saw Darby light Moxley on fire to end All Out: Toronto last month. In the build to their match at WrestleDream, Darby confronted Moxley with a flame thrower.
It seemed as if the angle had gone as far as possible from the sporting elements that provide the foundation for most successful wrestling companies and into the realm of the dark and macabre. An I Quit match certainly didnâ€t seem to be the way to settle a feud that had me thinking one of these guys was going to have to shoot the other to end it.
The Darby vs. Moxley match was dark and grim. It was the sort of content I feel has driven more fans away from AEW than itâ€s brought in over the years, especially as Khan has attempted to push the boundaries of what he can get away with in the context of a sports-based pro wrestling promotion.
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The match itself was a really downer for the most part until the end. Darby had a hard time keeping up with Moxley when he only had Marina Shafir at ringside, but once all of the Death Riders came out to join in on trying to make Allin say “I Quit,†the match appeared to be a farce of what pro wrestling is supposed to be.
Moxley had tried to get Darby to quit by attempting to drown him in a large fish tank, but Darby wouldnâ€t quit and the beating from Moxley was going to continue. Then the magic of pro wrestling took over. The lights went off and on and when they came on, “Old Man Logan” Sting was in the ring.
Yes, someone finally had shown up to help Darby fight for the pride of AEW. Sting smashed the aquarium with his bat and cleared the ringside area of The Death Riders. This set the stage for an amazing reaction to Darby making Moxley quit with a Scorpion Death Lock and winning the match.
Stingâ€s surprise appearance and Darbyâ€s win over Moxley was a great end to WrestleDream, but the question remains how disciplined can Khan be going forward with this type of over-the-top storytelling. It remains to be seen, but at some point the question has to be asked if presenting this kind of content is worth it even to when it works as it did at WrestleDream.
It might have appealed to the fans that have stuck with AEW, but if this type of content continues to be part of AEW storytelling is it going to help grow the company in the future or is it going to continue to erode their existing fan base. Khan might be wise to take another approach if heâ€s ever going to grow AEWâ€s fan base back to where it once was.
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