Whenever there's a big show coming up, like AEW WrestleDream this weekend, it can be instructive (not to mention fun) to go back and watch some older, related matches in the lead-up to the event. There are as many different ways to watch wrestling as there are individual wrestling fans, but here at Wrestling Inc., we love to cut up and rearrange wrestling history in interesting and unique ways, selecting a variety of matches with some sort of through-line connecting them and placing them side-by-side. This time around, in celebration of the upcoming "I Quit" match between Darby Allin and Jon Moxley, we look back on a years-long rivalry that (so far) has been as bloody as it's been one-sided.
While previous Watchlists have required us to pick and choose, this one was pretty simple to put together, since Allin and Moxley have shared the ring five previous times in singles competition. It's a history that doesn't even start in AEW, but that won't prevent us from talking about all five of their earlier meetings, from their first encounter inWaterbury, Connecticut Moxley's first American wrestling match since ditching WWE and his "Dean Ambrose" moniker to less than a month ago, when Moxley locked Allin in a coffin at All Out 2025.In fact, while Allin got the last laugh in September (and recently fought Moxley at New York Comic Con) he thus far has yet to defeat Moxley one-on-one something that might change this Saturday. To get you ready for that, here's everything you need to know about Jon Moxley vs.Darbin Allin!
When Dean Ambrose left WWE in 2019 to once again become JonMoxley on the independent scene, his third match out of Vince McMahon's companywas against Darby Allin at Northeast Wrestling's Brass City Brawl in June. Moxley had just debuted on AEW at Double or Nothing, but wouldn't get in the ring for the company until Fyter Fest the following month. In between his debut and first match, however, he wrestled another AEW star in Allin in front of a very small crowd at a rec center gym in Connecticut.
The match was a very important one in the grand scheme of Allin and Moxley's feud. The bout was the first in the United States that Moxley would fight after leaving WWE. While it was nothing, in terms of brutality, compared to what fans can expect during their "I Quit" match at WrestleDream, as well as what we saw in their coffin match at All Out, you can see the beginnings of Moxley once again transitioning into his former self after spending years in WWE. Allin was the perfect opponent for him to help shake the Ambrose and WWE off, for lack of a better term, before he officially started wrestling in AEW. NEW's commentary explained Moxley well when they said, "He's a guy who left most people's dream jobs to do things his way."
The crowd may have been tiny, maybe about 100 or so people, at the center in Waterbury, the environment for the match was fun. The fans were loud and excited and showed their appreciation for Moxley by throwing streamers into the ring during his entrance and you could tell the magnitude of getting to see him in his first US match post-WWE wasn't lost on them.
Allin and Moxley had a good almost-20 minute match and from the start of it, you wouldn't expect it to get a little more rowdy in the second half.There are a lot of fast-paced sequences throughout and they kept the fans interested, not straying too long in holds. Things really start to kick off, however, after Allin bit Moxley while both men were up on the top rope. Allin hit a coffin drop and Moxley kicked out, and about 15 minutes in, the former Ambrose was out of the ring looking for weapons.
He set up a table in the corner, which both he and Allin would go through later, and introduced chairs to the bout. Moxley taped Allin's wrists behind his back, leading to some excellent work on Allin's behalf when it came to dives, but he would end up dropped on his head when Moxley hit him with a big Paradigm Shift for the victory.
After the match, Moxley cut his first promo and commended Allin. He said crazy can equal money, and Allin would be a big star. The pair's first match, despite being for a small promotion, is a fun and exciting watch, and definitely a must-see if you're interested in their history.
Written by DaisyRuth
On the November 20, 2019 episode of "AEW Dynamite," Darby Allin and Jon Moxley crossed paths in singles action for the first time in AEW, having clashed with one another on the independent circuit just a few months before ten days before Allin debuted in AEW opposite Cody Rhodes. Moxley was undoubtedly a different kind of opponent to those Allin had been stacked against in AEW, and that's without considering he had already faced Rhodes and challenged Chris Jericho for the World title. And for almost eleven and a half minutes he hammered that point across in a manner of creatively violent ways, setting the standard for what could be expected whenever they share the ring.
Allin started the match off with a bang, leaping into Moxley with his signature suicide dive as soon as he touched the ringside area. They then fought into the crowd, with the larger Moxley getting the advantage and dumping Allin back into the ringside area. Much of the bout after that point was a story of Moxley dominating over Allin, frustrated with the fact that he was faced with someone perhaps as sadistic as himself and would not quit, no matter how much Moxley wanted to make him. Allin was put in a body bag, which has continued to be their love language with one another in the years since, and beaten in ways most people would object to before the referee decided enough was enough and let him out of the bag. Moxley sought to end things with the Paradigm Shift, but found Allin to be a little too slippery and almost got rolled up because of it.
To the extent that it took one big closer to... close things, Moxley hitting an Avalanche Paradigm Shift to get the final pinfall. It's a cool rewatch, given the ongoing conflict between them and Allin's positioning as Moxley's ultimate foil, and goes a little way to explain the beats that their story has struck over the months. And at the very least, it was an enjoyable match exhibiting the talent that would go on to become one of the lauded Pillars of AEW, for better or for worse.
Written byMaxEverett
The second ever Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley match may be the most unique and the most forgotten, and not necessarily for anything Moxley and Allin did. The match, for Moxley's AEW World Championship, took place during AEW's extended run in Daily's Place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and during a time AEW was completely different than it is now. How is it different? The segment prior to Moxley and Allin hitting the ring was a debate between Orange Cassidy and Chris Jericho, hosted by Eric Bischoff. You read that right: Eric Bischoff. You know this isn't your modern-day AEW when the guy who is considered the promotion's #1 critic was making appearances on the show. Other than that, it's very much what you would expect from these two; the match begins with Moxley busting open Allin's mouth with a straight right hand to kick off the match, and a few minutes later saw Allin launched from the stage and face first into the turnbuckle post.
Before long, the match has become eerily similar to the matches they had before and have had since, as Moxley destroys Allin before Allin valiantly fights back. But, whether it's Moxley being more confident now that he's champion or Allin becoming more established since October, the match really hums, quite the accomplishment as well given there was no audience, aside from the AEW wrestlers at ringside. It also can't help but have some shenanigans, with a Wardlow distraction and an MJF belt shot almost costing Moxley the match (while also cutting Moxley). Oddly enough though, the interference leads to a very exciting stretch, with Allin nearly winning, Moxley rallying, and finally being able to put Allin away with a Death Rider while a furious MJF (and stoic Wardlow) looked on. Ironically enough, the final shot after this match is Moxley, holding up a dazed Allin, offering him words of encouragement. How far they've come since!
Written byEric Mutter
I always thought that Darby Allin was a little bit of an idiot for taking this match in the first place. He had earned a shot at Bryan Danielson's AEW World Championship by winning the Royal Rampage back in July 2024, only for Jon Moxley to show up and demand that he have the shot instead because he's Jon Moxley and he had a plan that was not yet known to the wider world. However, I can forgive Darby for giving Moxley the chance to take his shot away from him because we got this match as a result.
One year on from their meeting at the Grand Slam edition of "AEW Dynamite" in September 2024, it's clear as day that Moxley had his Death Rider persona down right from the jump. He is as vicious as he had ever been up to that point, with the key difference being that he didn't have to bleed all over the place in order to gain a reaction. Instead, he bullies and grinds Darby down over the course an 18 minute mauling that really paints the picture of what fans should expect from this new side of the then three-time AEW World Champion. Moxley busts Darby's mouth open early doors and uses the whole ring as a weapon, kicking the ropes into his mouth and delivering repeated Bodyslams into those same ropes.
Given that this is a Darby Allin match, the bumps that he takes in this one are as nasty as they come. Darby is whipped in between the turnbuckles to the outside, he absolutely dies attempting a Tope to the outside only to land on the exposed hardwood floor, and is launched back-first into the steel steps in a ragdoll-like fashion that only Darby can produce. Despite all of that, Moxley maintains control and keep the heel heat on himself by using Marina Shafir to his advantage. She gets involved at just the right times to make Moxley feel cheap, but in a good way. He isn't squashing Darby, he's using every trick in the book to stay on top, which ultimately makes Darby's brief hope spots feel even more earned and exciting.
This also plays into the finish as Darby takes too much time debating whether to take care of Shafir while on the top rope, only for Moxley to hit perhaps the best Paradigm Shift of his entire career for the win. Phase one of Moxley's plan to take over AEW was complete, and he did it with an exceptional performance. Had the crowd been a little more alive, this match would be talked about a lot more than it is, which kind of makes the bout something of an underrated gem. It's an ugly fight in the best type of way between two guys who are made for each other. Darby can take all the punishment Moxley is willing to dish out and then some, so if you have a spare 20 minutes, go and revisit it.
Written bySam Palmer
I am sure my colleagues have made great cases for their matches between Darby Allin and Jon Moxley, but all of those matches have a distinct disadvantage: They are not 20 minutes of the two men trying to kill each other.
The thing about a casket match is it's not a subtle match. There is no benefit to chain wrestling. You can't sneak out a lucky pinfall or a strategic submission. You have to just incapacitate the other guy, and thus two homicidal maniacs were able to attempt and commit various felonies on each other. In that way, this might be one of the most beautiful matches in the history of AEW.
I think Jon Moxley and Darby Allin were meant to try to kill each other in the same way that Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada were born to have immense main event matches in the 2010s. They wear each other's blood proudly and have seemingly no limits to the pain they can inflict on each other. There's been a running thread of 2025 where the two men try to outdo each other in matters of ear evisceration. The match wasn't for a title. It wasn't for a title shot. It was just two men committing terrible acts on each other in the name of honor and pride. Moxley may have won by underhanded means, but there is something about Darby's tragic fall that makes the match just a tinge sadder, a tragedy instead of a triumph. I think a lot of Jon Moxley and Darby Allin's matches will age well, but this might be their masterpiece so far.
Written byRoss Berman
