PAC sustained an injury during his singles match against Swerve Strickland on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, casting doubt on The Death Riders’ scheduled defense of the AEW World Trios Championship against The Opps. With PAC sidelined, the expectation was that Jon Moxley would step in to defend the titles alongside his teammates Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta, utilizing the Freebird or Wolfpac Rule, which allows any member of a faction to defend a shared championship.
However, a new report from Fightful Select indicates that AEW has clarified Moxley is not currently recognized as an official Trios Champion. As a result, although Moxley is stepping in for the upcoming six-man tag match, he will only be recognized as a Trios Champion if The Death Riders win their upcoming bout against Samoa Joe, HOOK, and Katsuyori Shibata on this Wednesday’s Spring BreakThru edition of Dynamite.
On last week’s Collision broadcast, AEW commentator Tony Schiavone referred to Moxley as an “interim champion,” a designation made solely to explain his participation in the upcoming match. This adds a layer of intrigue and uncertainty to the status of the Trios Titles, especially given AEW’s careful approach to maintaining clear title lineage and credibility in the wake of unexpected injuries.
