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A lot happens at an AEW show when the live Dynamite cameras stop rolling.
For one thing, the promotion has to film AEW Dark Elevation and Ramage – unless it's a week where Rampage happens live – with some other recorded segments being put together before or after the show kicks off too for good measure. There are also fun interactions with members of the roster and Tony Khan himself, who addresses the crowd, sometimes multiple times during the course of an in-arena AEW show.
But sometimes, on the rarest of occasions, an incredibly consequential moment will happen that international fans who watch the show live on Fite TV get before their American counterparts, even if it almost always ends up on some AEW social media outlet unless something goes horribly wrong or JR has a verbal hiccup.
The AEW show live from Rochester, New York had one of those moments; a moment that might just redefine the end of Brody King's loss to Jon Moxley in his AEW Interm Championship main event bout.
Could Brody King be heading for a face turn down the line in AEW?
Brody King has been a heel for his entire run in AEW. He came into the promotion as a heel, he remained a heel when he and Malakai Black formed the Kings of the Black Throne, and kept firmly in the heel camp when the duo expanded to three, and even four with the additions of Buddy Matthews and Julia Hart.
And yet, could we eventually see the day when the 6-foot-5, 300-pound bruiser is a babyface in AEW or at least a certified anti-hero in the same vein as Jon Moxley? Well, if Sting and Darby Allin have their way, the answer to that question might just be a certified yes.
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From FITE: After Dynamite went off air, Darby Allin came out with Sting showing respect to Brody King but he left with Malakai Black.
Babyface turn for Brody down the line? pic.twitter.com/tl52xVrUTr
— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) July 7, 2022
After watching Black “console” King after his loss to Mox – if you want to call it that – the duo of Allin and Sting came marching out of the face tunnel to extend a hand to the fallen fighter. Allin congratulated King on his efforts, as they were the final two performers left in the Rampage Rumble, and attempted to show a sign of good sportsmanship to a man who dropped his lifeless body to the stadium floor one week prior.
Despite the crowd's best efforts to facilitate a handshake, King ultimately shook it off and the four men had a staredown before the Kings of the Black Throne returned to their dressing room, which likely looks more like a burnt-out black metal monistary than a place where athletes hit the showers before and after a wrestling match.
You have to give it to AEW, they do long-term storytelling in a very specific way.
While the prospects of keeping King heel in AEW indefinitely may seem like a surefire bet, like pairing french fries with ketchup, sometimes it's okay to shake things up and try a nice aioli, vinegar, or even an English-style mayo to shakes things up. Is that a forced metaphor? Eh, maybe a little bit but if you comb through King's match history, you'll see plenty of examples where Big Bad Brody is either a neutral grappler – VLNCE UNLTD with Toney Deppen, Chris Dickenson, and Homicide in Ring of Honor – or a downright babyface like his many of his matches booked in NJPW Strong. Like a good mayo-fry combo, don't knock it until you try it.
