RADICAN’S TAKE: The key to Allin’s AEW World Championship win being a success is going to be in the follow up

I have mixed feelings about the way Darby Allin won the AEW World Championship last night. The key is going to be in the follow up. If you like how the angle played out, you believe in the story AEW told last night that MJF didn’t know he was going to have to defend his title. I have a problem with that aspect of the angle that played out on Dynamite last night. MJF not knowing what’s going on in AEW and not knowing he was going to have to defend his title on the show? I have a hard time believing that. 

Did the angle to start Dynamite set Allin and MJF up to wrestle in the main event of Dynamite and give folks almost a full two hours to anticipate the match that didn’t have a lot of build to begin with? Yes, it did, but it also went against what makes Allin so special. He doesn’t take shortcuts. He claws, scratches, and earns everything he gets in the ring. So, why make his first AEW World Title reign almost come off like a quasi-fluke? 

The angle heavily protected MJF and gave him several excuses to make as to why he lost to Allin. He can say he wasn’t ready. He can say Allin resorted to cheap tactics with the low blow and got lucky by spamming his finisher to beat him. They’re all valid excuses if MJF uses them as a heel in the follow up.

Why would Allin’s character not truly want to earn the AEW World Championship by beating MJF without extenuating circumstances. That’s my biggest question when it comes to last night’s angle. It didn’t make senses to me that Allin was so eager to start the match with MJF still in his street attire. 

There’s a lot that worked on Dynamite last night too. Allin’s promo about winning the AEW World Championship while on the verge of tears in the ring? Incredible! His backstage meeting with Sting before the match? Awesome! Him winning the title in his hometown of Washington? Tremendous! The locker room coming out to celebrate with him capped by Sting coming out last? A great moment. 

Some might think the quick title change last night with Allin winning shows the title can change hands quickly at any moment. That’s great, but under the circumstances, the odds were stacked against MJF, which was the whole point of the setup. Protect MJF, get the title on Allin, and move forward.

Darby, usually an underdog in most of his matches, had the advantage going into his match with MJF and that didn’t feel right. It goes against what makes him so popular with fans in the first place and fuels his detractors that believe he doesn’t have the size or the look to be a world champion in AEW. 

One lingering question I have is why not just have Allin beat MJF in the main event without all the contrived storytelling? The setup could have been announcing the main event of MJF vs. Allin after Dynasty and made it clear MJF knew that the match was coming on Dynamite. Allin could have beaten MJF and truly earned the title in the eyes of the fans and given Allin doubters no room to say he wouldn’t have won if not for the extenuating circumstances. 

Ultimately, I feel like AEW lost an opportunity for Allin to truly earn the title he now has around his waist. That’s what his character does. He earns everything, so it feels strange when it feels like he didn’t fully earn his win over MJF last night, especially when he took a shortcut and hit a low blow to set up his win. 

I will be able to judge how Allin won his title by how he is booked moving forward. This story can be salvaged if Allin is booked as a champion that is able to use his high-risk style of offense to defeat several challengers. If Allin doesn’t establish credibility as a champion moving forward and loses the title back to MJF or another challenger in the near future, Allin’s first title win will have been a wasted opportunity to fully capitalize on his long history AEW. 

(Sean Radican has been Pro Wrestling Torch for over 22 years. He has covered the independents, ROH, and NJPW in-depth over the years in addition to also watching all the major promotions in the U.S. PWTorch VIP members get access to his weekly Radican Worlwide podcast looking at a variety of news topics from the past week and then an in-depth Go-Home segment with a guest on a big topic of the week. You can contact him at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. You can follow him on X @SR_Torch and on Bluesky @SeanRadican.)