Jon Moxley is the NEW AEW World Champion.
During the 9/21 episode of AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam, Jon Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson to become a three-time AEW World Champion.
Moxley picked up the win after a thrilling 20-minute-plus back-and-forth affair that ended when Moxley clutched onto Danielson’s neck and ‘The American Dragon’ got choked out cold and referee, Paul Turner had no choice but to call the match.
The winner of the #AEWGrandSlam Tournament of Champions and NEW #AEW World Champion is @JonMoxley, after an absolute WAR with #BlackpoolCombatClub teammate @bryandanielson! What a night of action here on #AEWDynamite Grand Slam on @TBSNetwork! pic.twitter.com/Kn1H9U7l9V
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 22, 2022
Moxley originally won the AEW World Championship when he defeated Chris Jericho at the company’s Revolution pay-per-view in February 2020. He would hold the title until he was defeated by Kenny Omega at the Winter Is Coming edition of Dynamite, the following December. Moxley would become interim champion after he defeated NJPW’s Hiroshi Tanahashi at the AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door pay-per-view, this past June. Moxley would then defeat the returning proper champion, CM Punk on the August 24 episode of Dynamite to become an official two-time champion, but Moxley would lose it right back to Punk at the All Out pay-per-view, earlier this month.
Punk would then be stripped of the title following a physical altercation between he, Kenny Omega, Matt, and Nick Jackson following Punk’s victory over Moxley at All Out. The scuffle would lead to Punk vacating the title and he would be subsequently suspended in addition to already having to miss time due to triceps surgery. AEW President, Tony Khan then announced the ‘Tournament of Champions’ to determine a new champion, which culminated this evening with Moxley’s win over his fellow Blackpool Combat Club member, Bryan Danielson.
Numerous title bouts took place during tonight’s special episode of Dynamite: Grand Slam, as Claudio Castagnoli defended the ROH World Title against Chris Jericho and Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee defended their Tag Titles against The Acclaimed’s Max Caster and Anthony Bowens.