>>19571572You're adding links to a chain of events that weren't on the show.
Mox may have lost the 'I Quit' match and his matches against O'Reilly by submission, but his two losses in this fake G1 were pinfalls to Claudio and Takeshita. It would have served the show to have had these losses also come by submission, perhaps with Tony instructing the commentators to speculate that Moxley is suffering from a crisis of (a dueling heel/babyface) conscience following the shattering loss to good guy Darby. I admit this is my own imaginary link to the chain, but the transition from Mox the mind-broken, self-loathing, remorseful heel who taps easily to the reborn, resilient, and respectful warrior went away as soon as he began jobbing by pinfall too. Those pinfall losses also made it seem far less likely that a guy like Okada, of all people, would get a submission win. The commentators were instructed to repeatedly remind the audience that the tournament participants were fighting through the damage sustained in their previous matches, but has been standard practice in every G1 style tournament. The potential for any added layer of significance for the character of Jon Moxley was squandered: "That sadistic ex-champ has been losing more than usual lately, by pinfall and submission, but now he's got a big win and, oh look, he's being friendly." Perhaps Tony had something better in mind but it failed to come across in the actual production, but his track record suggests otherwise.
Should Claudio and the other Riders end up jumping Mox on Dynamite, we'll have a predictable midcard feud that Tony won't be able to book effectively. Should we get a face Death Riders versus heel Callis Family midcard feud, we'll have months of meaningless tags and unwatchable Don Callis promos. The most frustrating part of all is that there are plenty of creative roads Tony can take after that torturous Death Rider storyline, and we can already be sure that he's oblivious of all of them.
