By November last year, Jon Moxley’s dominance in AEW had sustained several massive blows. Despite claiming that he would not, the leader of The Death Riders had submitted to Darby Allin in a brutal I Quit match at WrestleDream 2025. Subsequently, he faced Kyle O’Reilly one-on-one twice, and failed to beat the Conglomeration member both times, losing the first bout via DQ and fighting his opponent to a double count-out in the second.
Mox then lost to Roderick Strong in a Blood and Guts advantage match, and in the titular steel cage showdown between The Death Riders and The Conglomeration (with Darby Allin), he tapped to O’Reilly. In an even more shocking upset, Moxley was submitted by The Violent Artist once again in a No Holds Barred Match at Full Gear 2025. While fans continued to speculate on whether his recent failures would lead to The One True King’s teammates turning on him, the Cincinnati-native was announced as an entrant in the 2025 Continental Classic.
Moxley’s campaign in the tournament was far from perfect, as he suffered losses to Konosuke Takeshita and to his own stable-mate Claudio Castagnoli. Nonetheless, he persevered through to the semifinals and eventually to the finals of the C2, respectively defeating Kyle Fletcher and defending champion Kazuchika Okada to capture the AEW Continental Title. Mox then defended the strap in Eliminator Matches against Josh Alexander, Shelton Benjamin and Ace Austin before wrestling Konosuke Takeshita to a time-limit draw in Australia.
The original Death Rider and his crew subsequently got embroiled in a feud with the Don Callis Family, as he defended the Continental Title in Eliminator bouts against Mark Davis, El Clon and Hechicero before finally and definitively retaining against Takeshita at Revolution 2026. Mox then found himself in the crosshairs of the returning Will Ospreay, and after another successful Eliminator win against Anthony Bowens, retained the Continental Championship against The Aerial Assassin at Dynasty 2026.
On Collision: Spring BreakThru, Moxley beat Nick Wayne, and at the start of May he defeated his old rival Juice Robinson in an Eliminator. Later that month, he faced Kyle O’Reilly once again, and the two wrestled to a draw on AEW Dynamite. Mox finally defeated KOR for the Continental Title at Double or Nothing 2026, closing his feud with the Canadian grappler. His latest defense of the belt saw him retaining it against Shane Taylor on Dynamite: Summer Blockbuster.
This past Wednesday on Dynamite, Mox and his teammate Daniel Garcia lost a tag team bout to Brodido. In the aftermath, Bandido called Moxley out to a Continental Title match, and the latter accepted the challenge for Forbidden Door 2026. The erstwhile Lunatic Fringe has been holding the strap for nearly six months now, and him dropping it to the “Most Wanted” luchador may be AEW’s best move right now. Let us consider three reasons why this could be the case.
#1. Fans have been clamoring for a change in the Continental Title landscape
Jon Moxley’s 177-day reign so far as Continental Champion has been marked by a number of hard-hitting and competitive Eliminator matches and title defenses. Some of these matchups, for instance those against Shelton Benjamin, Ace Austin, Nick Wayne, Juice Robinson and Anthony Bowens, were straight-forward Eliminator defenses without any broader storyline associations. Alternatively, several of these matches, specifically those against members of the Don Callis Family, connected to his feud with Konosuke Takeshita.
Although Moxley’s performances as Continental Champion have been received fairly well by fans, audiences have been voicing their desire to see someone else hold the belt for some time now. This discourse grew stronger around the time when The Purveyor of Violence rekindled his rivalry with Kyle O’Reilly this year, as it followed the exact same structure as his program with Takeshita (first title match ends in a draw, no-time-limits rematch concluding with Mox’s victory).
Moxley’s challenger for Forbidden Door 2026, Bandido, has over the past year elevated himself to the position of one of AEW’s most popular and promising stars. Although he is currently the ROH World Champion, and has been an All Elite tag team champion with Brody King, he has yet to hold a singles belt in the Jacksonville-based company.
AEW should strongly consider pulling the trigger on Bandido this Sunday, since such a massive title change will definitely shake up the competitive landscape of the promotion.
#2. AEW can kickstart a storyline between Bandido and Brody King
Bandido began teaming with Brody King since around the middle of last year. It did not take long for the duo to find success, as they defeated GOA and The Young Bucks in a tag team title Eliminator Tournament and wrestled FTR to a draw in the finals. At last year’s Forbidden Door, they battled The Top Guys and defending champions Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin for the AEW World Tag Team Titles, and ended up winning the three-way to capture the belts.
Brodido proceeded to defend their tag team straps against Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta of The Death Riders, against CMLL’s Galeon Fantasma, against Hechicero/Josh Alexander, JetSpeed and The Bucks at All Out 2025, against GOA, and against DCF top dogs Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita at WrestleDream 2025 before finally dropping the belts to FTR at Full Gear the following month.
Despite supporting each other in their singles endeavours, Brodido did not team up together in AEW for some time since then, until this past Wednesday, when they returned to tag team action and defeated Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta. While their partnership appears to be going strong still, things could change for the duo if Bandido does succeed at dethroning The Ace of All Elite Wrestling at Forbidden Door 2026.
For instance, the masked luchador boasting a singles belt in the company while “Big Bad” Brody himself failed to accomplish the same feat could lead to resentments festering between the two. Eventually, King could turn on the fan-favorite and challenge him for the Continental Title. Perhaps he could even win it from his former tag partner and embark on a dominant run as an unstoppable heel champion.
#3. Jon Moxley can be better integrated into Will Ospreay’s AEW All In journey
Some time after retaining his Continental Title against Will Ospreay, Jon Moxley and The Death Riders shocked fans when they rescued the Englishman from getting his neck further brutalized by Mark Davis. The Purveyor of Violence offered the renowned high-flyer the option to either get his revenge on Mox for damaging his neck last year, or to train with his crew to become the most lethal version of himself.
Ospreay chose the second proposal, and began working with The Death Riders on strengthening his neck. The decision has paid dividends, as his training with the group enabled the “Billy Goat” to beat Samoa Joe and Mark Davis respectively in his quarterfinal and semifinal round matches of the 2026 Owen Hart Cup. He is now set to face his long-time ally Swerve Strickland in the tournament finals at Forbidden Door 2026.
En route to All In: London, Moxley has been especially invested in preparing Ospreay for his shot at the AEW Men’s World Title in Wembley Stadium. A section of viewers have been speculating for a while now that The One True King is training The Commonwealth Kingpin to win the World Championship, a belt he lost at All In: Texas last year, with the ulterior motive of getting closer to the title, or bringing it back to The Death Riders through Ospreay.
Some fans are also of the belief that Mox might turn on and challenge The Sky King after All In 2026 if the latter becomes AEW World Champion at the PPV. His decision could be framed as Moxley waiting till the opportune moment to blindside Ospreay, whom he has already beaten before, so as to throw him off his game and reclaim the World Title from him. Such a program would be arguably all the more compelling and high-stakes if Mox is not already holding a major title himself.
It would thus make good sense for AEW to have Bandido take the Continental Championship from Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door 2026.
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Edited by Aziel Karthak
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