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Jon Moxley has once again made AEW history as the only four-time World Champion. The high-stakes WrestleDream main event on Saturday saw Moxley dethrone Bryan Danielson. After a controversial finish to the pay-per-view, WWE personality Sam Roberts has weighed in with a massive prediction on the chase for AEW's top championship.
The Purveyor of Violence destroyed The American Dragon in Saturday's main event. Danielson's career as a full-time wrestler is now over. Darby Allin and Wheeler Yuta tried to save Danielson post-match. However, Yuta turned heel and used a bag on his mentor after PAC and Marina Shafir duct-taped Allin.
Jeff Jarrett and Private Party also failed to assist Danielson. But the heels finally retreated when the locker room emptied after Claudio Castagnoli stomped a chair around The American Dragon's neck. The angle received heat from fans and insiders, including Sam Roberts.
The Last Professional Broadcaster agreed with many fans on how Allin could dethrone The Lunatic Fringe as the AEW World Champion. During his Notsam Wrestling podcast, Roberts pointed to how WrestleDream ended as a bummer, noting that this seemed to be their first pay-per-view with a conclusion that took the wind out of viewers in such a way.
Roberts does not think this kind of creative direction is why AEW fans watch, adding that this complicates things when deciding on where to go next with the storyline. The 41-year-old WWE on-air personality doesn't mind heat-drawing angles like the WrestleDream closer and believes Allin could be a major hero coming out of the feud with Moxley.
"For me, I'm not averse to doing things to get major, major heat from the audience. Jon Moxley has solidified himself as the biggest heel in the company (...) the question is, can you pay it off? Will it eventually be worthwhile? Is this all to build to Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley, so you can make Darby the biggest hero imaginable? Because Moxley has become such a villain (...) if that's the goal, I understand it. Is it worth it? I don't know. That's for other people to decide, I suppose," Roberts said. [From 50:16 to 50:59]
Darby vs. Bryan for the AEW World Championship was once rumored for WrestleDream. Allin won the two-ring Royal Rampage in July but then lost his guaranteed future title shot to Moxley at the Grand Slam Dynamite in September. Moxley used that title shot to become champion on Saturday amid rumored internal issues between top stars.
Darby Allin's history with the AEW World Championship
Darby Allin is a two-time TNT Champion and a one-time World Tag Team Champion. Despite fan support, the 31-year-old has never held the AEW World Championship.
The Daredevil has had just three shots at the World Championship. The second-ever Dynamite in October 2019 saw Allin defeat Jimmy Havoc to earn a Philadelphia Street Fight against inaugural World Champion Chris Jericho the following week, but The Learning Tree retained.
Allin's first and only World Championship singles match in August 2020 actually came against Jon Moxley, who retained. Then at Double Or Nothing 2023, MJF retained over Allin, Jack Perry, and Sammy Guevara, which was Allin's last shot at the title.
While Darby fumbled his Royal Rampage 2024 title shot, the Seattle native also came up short after winning AEW's two-ring Battle Royal in 2023. Allin chose to cash in for a TNT Championship shot last year but lost to then-champion Luchasaurus at All Out.
If you use any quotes from the article's first half, please credit Notsam Wrestling and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
