Jon Moxley, AEW’s leather-jacketed lunatic with the face of a bouncer and the soul of a Shakespearean tragedy, will defend his AEW World Championship against the human freight train known as Samoa Joe at AEW Dynamite: Beach Break on May 14. Yes, they’re taking this fight to the beach. Because nothing says “relaxing ocean breeze” like blood, bruises, and a man getting choked out in flip-flops.
Last week, Joe reminded everyone that friendship is dead and violence is forever by locking Moxley in the Coquina Clutch as The Opps dethroned the Death Riders for the AEW World Trios Titles. Moxley, never one to process things emotionally or with a therapist, responded the next night on Collision by flipping furniture and demanding Joe in a one-on-one showdown. Think “Home Alone,” but with fewer booby traps and more televised trauma.
This week’s Dynamite escalated things faster than a group text with your ex and your current significant other. The Death Riders and The Opps started brawling before Excalibur even finished his opening sentence. Joe once again put Moxley to sleep with the Coquina Clutch—his unofficial love language—until the Young Bucks and Kazuchika Okada ran in like confused anime characters.
Then came Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega, because why not add five more stars and start a faction war at a water park?
Once the chaos cleared, Joe took the mic like a man who just fought off an entire movie cast and calmly declared he was reclaiming the AEW World Title. He also cast a suspicious glare at Swerve—because if you think this story ends at Beach Break, you’ve clearly never watched pro wrestling or the Fast & Furious franchise.
This marks the first time Moxley and Joe have faced off one-on-one since their WWE Raw showdown back in 2017, when Joe choked out a slightly less angry Dean Ambrose. This is also Joe’s first crack at the AEW World Title since dropping it to Strickland at Dynasty, and Moxley’s sixth defense of his reign as AEW’s resident sadistic champion with a heart of barbed wire.
Grab your SPF 50 and prepare for blood in the surf.