Last week, AEW: Dynamite presented its annual Grand Slam event from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY. The big event was bookmarked by world title matches, with the ROH Championship match opening and the AEW one closing. In between was more title action, including AEW International Champion Jon Moxley defending against Lucha Brothers’ Rey Fenix.
Early in the bout, Fenix dove off the entrance ramp onto Moxley, landing on his head and injuring him. The bout continued and eventually came to an end after Moxley was dropped on his head in a piledriver variant by Fenix, and an audible was called. It was reported shortly after that Moxley had suffered a concussion and is now underground testing protocols.
Fightful reports that Fenix winning the AEW International Championship was not the only intentional ramification of the audible being called. It was noted that a non-AEW wrestler was scheduled to confront Moxley following his victory over Fenix to set up a match at AEW WrestleDream. Due to the match ending with Fenix as the winner, the planned confrontation was called off, and the WrestleDream match in question is no longer a sure thing. The name of the non-AEW wrestler who was going to confront Moxley was not mentioned.
The report goes on to say that there was “heavy heat” on referee Rick Knox for the way he handled Moxley’s injury during the match. While not explicitly stated, many have been critical of Knox for not initially counting to three when Moxley was unable to kick out of his own volition. It has become common practice in pro wrestling for referees to keep the cadence of their count, regardless of whether the wrestler kicks out or not. Had Knox counted to three, the match would have ended, and there would have been no need for Fenix to hit Moxley with a second piledriver. Apparently, this is not the first time that “something like this” has happened in a match that Knox was officiating.