Details on AEW Dynasty finish, possible creative changes (Patreon)
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The AEW Dynasty show ender had many fans up in arms as Jon Moxley defeated Swerve Strickland.
For some reason, when word of Bryan Danielson being backstage emerged, many people implied it was his call. It wasn't Every final decision in the company from an on-screen perspective comes down to Tony Khan. One source joked that if Bryan Danielson had that much creative say he would have never won the world title last year. It was reiterated that the decision was Tony Khan's.
As far as the Young Bucks' involvement, there were many in the company who weren't sure exactly how long they would be out and there had been some pitches from talent to work with them. They had been backstage for a show in California, but left before it started, and also for Christopher Daniels' final match in Cincinnati. We asked sources in AEW if their involvement had been a long term plan, and were told that "wasn't something that anyone had heard" over previous months by one source, and "I felt like we planted seeds for this a while back" by another.
We have never heard that there was a plan for Swerve Strickland to win. To the contrary, we'd heard quite a while back that Jon Moxley had been set for a lengthy title reign from even before he won it.
AEW internally has touted the success of the Death Riders and Moxley winning the title, citing a disconnect with online fans. AEW claims that the company's live+dvr quarters have climbed throughout the year with Moxley as champion, peaking with the Moxley vs. Cope street fight.
One theory in the company was that Switchblade Jay White was set for a heel turn ahead of his injury that sidelined him. It was implied that this could have tied into the night's main event. However, White's injury caused significant creative shifts last week, as we'd reported.
The injury bug hit AEW hard ahead of Dynasty. Switchblade Jay White, Orange Cassidy and Brian Cage were all planned for AEW Dynasty before injuries sidelined them.