Last night’s AEW Dynamite went off the air with Samoa Joe standing over MJF, holding the AEW World Championship high over his head. It was a surprising turn of events, as the men were expected to defend the ROH World Tag Team Championships against two of The Devil’s masked men. Joe, however, was “attacked” in the backstage area and was unable to compete, leaving Friedman alone to defend the titles, setting up The Samoan Submission Machine’s attack a few minutes later.
Among all the chaos in the final seven minutes or so of Dynamite was one detail that some eagle-eyed pro wrestling fans spotted. As Friedman was making his way to the ring, he wore both his ROH World Tag Team and AEW World Championships around his waist, stacked on top of each other. This has become the common way that Friedman wears the titles, but on Dynamite, he wore the AEW World Championship upside down.
It is POSSIBLE that wearing the title upside down was accidental, but it seems like a detail Friedman would make sure to get right. The move also comes at a time when Friedman is projecting that he will become a free agent on January 1 and could sign with WWE. As Haus of Wrestling has reported, based on conversations with those higher-up in WWE, Friedman has not been in talks with the sports entertainment juggernaut, and the belief within the company is that he has already re-signed with AEW.
Regardless, if Friedman is trying to project some animous with AEW ahead of a possible title loss at Worlds End and time off to sell his supposed free agency, a move like wearing the AEW World Championship upside down would play into that.
Speculation is currently running rampant in regard to who could be behind AEW’s big “The Devil” storyline. At the moment, many fans seem convinced that Adam Cole, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Roderick Strong are behind the attacks. However, a swerve could be coming, and some believe AEW President Tony Khan could be behind it all.