Hardcore was the name of the game in the Fyter Fest main event, a bout presented as a non-sanctioned match by AEW officials. "Bad Boy" Joey Janela sought a victory over wrestling's hottest star, while Jon Moxley looked to make an example of the loudmouthed competitor ahead of his August 31 match with Kenny Omega.
A barbwire steel chair was the first device of destruction introduced to the match, and both Janela and Moxley felt its wrath. Janela capitalized on Moxley's missed senton bomb and introduced a table to proceedings. It was a different pair of tables at ringside that exploded on impact as Janela brought Moxley off the ring apron with a Russian legsweep.
The anarchic Moxley answered with a spear that drove Janela through a table propped in the corner. As Moxley retrieved another pair of tables, Janela shot him the middle finger and a defiant smile. The former WWE champion's response? The retrieval of a barbed-wire board from under the ring.
It backfired, though, as Janela delivered a Death Valley Driver into it. Recovered, he turned Janela inside out with a lariat clothesline out of the corner. A superkick from Janela allowed him to pull a ladder from underneath the ring, drawing an ovation from the audience.
With Moxley spread over two tables, Janela scaled the ladder and dropped a picture-perfect elbow to the sternum of his opponent. Janela followed up by introducing his own barbed-wire board to the equation. Moxley caught Janela on his shoulders and dumbed him through the board with a Death Valley bomb as chants of "AE-Dub" poured from the stands.
Moxley brought thumbtacks into the fold, spreading them all over the squared circle as groans filled the arena. Moxley removed the boot and then the socks of his opponent, looking to inflict sickening punishment on The Bad Boy. Janela momentarily fended off the attack, but a release suplex sent him into them.
The former WWE champion finally drove him feet-first into the tacks in a barbaric spot. Janela egged on Moxley, daring him to finish him off. He did, dropping him with the Death Rider on to more tacks for the win.
After the match, Kenny Omega arrived and beat the ever-loving hell out of Moxley, avenging the assault he endured at Double or Nothing. As the show went off the air, though, the prey was left smiling despite his pain.
Moxley defeated Janela.
When you promote an unsanctioned match between two of the most extreme wrestlers of their generation, you expect a certain level of discomfort. You expect violence and bloodshed. You expect ladders, tables, chairs, tacks and barbwire. Janela and Moxley delivered in spades, paying off heightened expectations of deathmatch-esque action.
Was it fun to watch? At times. Did it flirt with the fine line of good taste? Absolutely. But did it live up to expectations? Hell freaking yes.
The paradigm shift that Moxley promised after his debut at Double or Nothing was on display here as he completely erased any and all remnants of the PG-rated caricature he developed into late in his WWE run.
Janela, on the other hand, is a star in the making. His ability to take punishment and demand more is reminiscent of Mick Foley, with the same heart and desire to boot. There will be a time when he does not feel the need to be involved in quite so many high-risk, low-reward spots, when his charisma alone fuels his character.
Until that time comes, expect the type of dangerous and unflinching performances the likes of which the AEW faithful were treated to tonight.
Omega's post-match attack made sense given the beatdown he endured in Vegas, while the smile painting Moxley's face was apropos following the sadistic torture he took and dished out moments earlier.
