Last night, during the main event of AEW Dynasty, Swerve Strickland had the opportunity to regain the AEW Championship from Jon Moxley, running roughshod over the company since October. It seemed prime time, and overdue, for someone to take the championship from Moxley, and Swerve seemed like the correct opponent to do so, until The Young Bucks appeared to attack Swerve and help Moxley retain.

Social media and wrestling commentators were resoundingly critical of the finish, and Moxley's win drags on an already overly unclear and unfocused Death Riders storyline, one that appears to have no clear direction or payoff. With Moxley's retention in Philadelphia, AEW missed a major opportunity to reset its creative clock and to silence its critics by course-correcting from an unworthy story.

Surprising Young Bucks Appearance Helps Moxley Retain the Title Over Swerve

A Quick Recap of the Main Event

In the main event of AEW Dynasty, Jon Moxley defended his AEW Championship against Swerve Strickland in a match that was set to allow Swerve to reclaim the soul of AEW from a gang of marauders who don't necessarily have a clear mission statement but wreak havoc nonetheless. Intertwined in this story is a growing love/hate relationship between Swerve and former AEW Champion "Hangman" Adam Page, calling back to their vicious feud and presenting one of the best stories AEW has given fans thus far.

In another physical match, Moxley first hit the referee with a chair, which caused Page to get into the ring, and while he spent time debating who he'd attack, the Death Riders appeared and caused Page to hit Moxley with a Deadeye. After some more interference, Swerve was able to connect a chair to Moxley's head and deliver his Swerve Stomp, only for the lights to go out, and when they went back on, The Young Bucks appeared, holding Swerve's arms and hit him with an EVP Trigger, allowing Moxley to pin and retain.

AEW Fans Are Tired of Mox's Reign

AEW Needs To Move On From This

The Death Riders story is not a popular one among fans on social media, and Mox's win last night over Swerve Strickland caused an immediate backlash on social media. Fans took to X (Twitter) and Instagram to express dismay at another Moxley win, the lack of payoff for both Swerve's anticipated second run as AEW Champion and the end of the Death Riders storyline.

It's impossible to view Moxley's title reign, and the Death Riders storyline, as anything but a wasted creative opportunity, specifically as there seems to be no centralized message to it, as it's been rumored the stable was to be led by Shane McMahon, whose talks with AEW reportedly stalled out after he was rumored to have requested a stake in the company, which fell on deaf ears. With no clear direction, segments with the Death Riders consistently rank among the most disliked segments on AEW programming week over week, and it's far past high time to allow a homegrown talent like Swerve Strickland, MJF, or countless others to take the place of Mox as the face of the company.

Is AEW Stuck Repeating the Same Mistakes?

Adding the Young Bucks Won't Fix This Mess

The biggest swerve - no pun intended - in last night's main event was The Young Bucks' appearance to assist Moxley in retaining the AEW Championship, delivering an EVP Trigger to Swerve. It's unclear as to what role, if any, they'll play in the Death Riders story, but it seems confusing from the outset that they'd align with Moxley's crew, especially after leaning into their EVP status so hard with the other failed AEW storyline, The New Elite.

With the addition of EVPs into the main event story, AEW again finds itself repeating the same mistakes it had before: inserting already established top guys into the places where homegrown talent should be. If AEW continues on this path without course correcting - quickly - away from the disastrous Death Riders storyline, they run the risk of continuing to alienate their current fanbase with a lack of proper payoffs, and keeping many new fans at bay, worried that AEW is turning into the same product they once were the alternative to.