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On the penultimate edition of Dynamite before All Out, the fate of the AEW World Championship was officially decided. There would be no more “interim” labels, no more dueling profiles under the champions headline on the AEW roster page, and no more discussion over who deserved the proper label, Jon Moxley or CM Punk.
No, after months of confusion and haziness about the promotion's future, surely Tony Khan would put it all together, book a match for the ages, and deliver onto the AEW Galaxy a definitive answer one way or another… right? Goodness, this was the first time in AEW history where two World Champions would duke it out in a winner-takes-all match for the promotion's biggest prize; this match had to be one of the best bouts in AEW history.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. No, by watching Mox squash Punk in a matter of minutes and walk out the ring with the belt still around his waist while his opponent grimaced in pain on the floor, fans the world over wanted to know what Tony Khan had up his sleeve.
Was Punk actually hurt? Did he request to drop the belt in Ohio in order to avoid losing it in Chicago? And what about Mox? Who would he wrestle at All Out, where one would assume the best will be defended, as it has been on every other Pay-Per-View AEW has run since the belt came into being?
While fans won't get a definitive answer to that question until at least Wednesday night on Dynamite at the earliest, it's not hard to look at the rankings, look at the promotion's landscape, and look at the rumor mill to get a pretty good idea about who the opponent could be.
3 potential All Out opponents for Jon Moxley's AEW World Championship.
3. CM Punk
What? Would AEW really have Moxley wrestle Punk, again, in the main event of All Out 11 days after he defeated the “Best in the World” on Dynamite? Would fans want to see Punk go toe to toe with Mox when his toe – and the foot attached to it – is of questionable injury status?
Eh, probably not, but unless MJF runs out on the subsequent edition of Dynamite and challenges for the championship, Punk is by far the easiest challenger for the title, as the duo have been building up to this moment for months. They've had multiple promo shootouts, multiple staredowns, and a gimmicky match that didn't exactly feel definitive in the eyes of anyone, from the fans at home to the fans in the arena to even the commentary team, who sounded very confused indeed.
If Punk returns and can best Moxley despite his injury, he'll look like a true babyface star who overcame adversity to take back what was his. And if Moxley wins? Well, it would just look like even more of a burial of Punk as he presumably makes his way out of the door.
2. “Hangman” Adam Page
If the goal of securing Moxley a challenger is more about honoring AEW's ranking systems and their ethos that win-loss records matter in the promotion over what has been built up the best, the man for the job would be none other than “Hangman” Adam Page, who has been listed as the promotion's number one contender in men's singles action since August 3rd.
Page hasn't lost a match in AEW since June, when he came up short in the Rampage Rumble and lost to Jay White in the four-way match to decide on the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and while that isn't much of an accomplishment, as he only appeared in one tag team match with John Silver on Rampage versus the Butcher and the Blade since then, his status has continued to rise as the performers in front of him dropped matches.
Since joining AEW, Page and Moxley have wrestled exactly twice, first in a tag team match on the third episode of Dynamite alongside Kenny Omega and PAC in Philadelphia back in 2019, and in a Casino Ladder Match to decide the number one contender for the AEW World Championship also from Philadelphia in 2021. While All Out isn't being broadcast from Philadelphia, having a third bout between the two former champions would be a welcomed consolation prize, especially since it would mark their first-ever singles match regardless of the promotion.
In AEW, Moxley and Eddie Kingston have never been afraid to let the other know when they are messing up. The duo initially feuded in the fall of 2020 because of this very reason. Had it not been for the “Mad King” coming out for the save on Moxley at Revolution 2021, the duo may have never officially become a team in AEW and then gone on to wrestle 16 matches as a team either in AEW or in NJPW, but because Kingston wanted to look out for his on-again, off-again friend in his time of need, that all came to be.
With Kingston's suspension officially over, could he return to AEW and challenge Moxley for the belt, saying that his long-time friend has lost his way? While this outcome is far less likely than giving “Hangman” the rub and another championship match, testing Moxley on his stuff could be an interesting opportunity for character growth and give one of AEW's biggest fan favorites another shot at the championship belt.
