The AEW Grand Slam Australia event on February 14 opened up with Jon Moxley making his first official defense of the AEW Continental Championship against Konosuke Takeshita. Both men know each other very well having faced off in singles competition four times before, but there was always a decisive winner in those bouts unlike this one, as Moxley and Takeshita wrestled to a 20 minute draw in front of the fans in Sydney.Much like their previous battles, the match between Moxley and Takeshita was extremely physical. Moxley ended up with a bloody nose and swelling around his eye by the time the match reached the final five minutes. In the closing stages, both men threw everything they could at each other, even exchanging attempts to get each other in a Rear Naked Choke. Moxley would hit the Death Rider on Takeshita who would kick out, but it was the challenger who looked to have the match won in the closing moments as he powered through a Lariat from Moxley to kick out at one, who proceeded to kick out at one from a Lariat from Takeshita, but Takeshita would hit his Power Drive Knee to the back of Moxley's head. However, Takeshita was unable to get Moxley up for the Raging Fire as he was deadweight, leading to the time limit expiring.After the match, Takeshita wanted to make sure that he still had Moxley in his sights by laying the champion out with the Raging Fire. Moxley would cut a promo backstage that was uploaded to AEW's social media pages expressing his frustrations about not getting the win, despite leaving Australia with the title in hand. Moxley declared that there will be a definitive winner the next time he steps in the ring with Takeshita, and with the Revolution pay-per-view on the horizon, there is every chance the match will take place there with a longer time limit.
