AEW Title Match vs. Jon Moxley Is a Chance for Rush to Crack the Mainstream

The Mexican luchador’s talent is undeniable but he’s never been placed in the spotlight like this.

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Rush on AEW title match: “Jon Moxley’s never wrestled anyone like me”

Rush will challenge Jon Moxley this week on Dynamite, seeking to wrestle away the AEW championship.

“Winning this title, it would be the greatest achievement in my career,” Rush says through a translator. “I am going to leave everything in the ring to get that title.”

The title match serves as an incredible launch pad for Rush with the American audience. Once a pillar of Mexican promotion CMLL, Rush now has the chance to work his magic in AEW against a former WWE champion. And even though he is a two-time Ring of Honor champion, Rush remains a secret to many fans. That will no longer be the case if he can make magic with Moxley.

The leader of La Facción Ingobernable, which is the spiritual successor to Los Ingobernables, Rush is only four nights removed from a pay-per-view match against younger brother Dragon Lee at Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor. Their first encounter was hard-hitting, intense and overflowing with chemistry. In the end, Rush was victorious, reminding Dragon Lee that he has yet to reach the same elite level as his big brother.

“It was an honor to wrestle my brother,” Rush says. “I wanted that match because it was an opportunity for the two of us to show the world who we are. People got to see why Dragon Lee is a two-time ROH TV champion. They got to see why I am a two-time ROH world champion. They got to see us at our best.

“My brother has a great future. He is very talented and very young with incredible physique and strength, and we both learned from our father. He taught us to love and respect each other, except for when we’re in the ring, and he was also very proud of our match.”

Rush showed no signs of rust. After rehabbing a knee injury throughout parts of this year and last, he is finally back to full strength.

“I’m completely healthy,” Rush says. “I’m at my best with the claws and courage to face the best in the world. I want to wrestle for AEW and ROH, and I will show that ‘El Toro Blanco’ is the best in the world.”

The title bout on Dynamite will mark the first time Rush and Moxley have ever wrestled one another. It is a fascinating encounter, a former two-time ROH champion squaring off against the two-time, reigning AEW (interim) champ.

“He is a great champion,” Rush says. “He is a true champion. And he has had a great career, but Jon Moxley’s never wrestled anyone like me.

“I plan on showing no mercy. Moxley is about to learn about real pain, and he will never forget the night he met ‘El Toro Blanco’ in the ring.”

The (online) week in wrestling

• Paul “Triple H” Levesque is back in a position of authority in WWE. Only months after NXT was stripped of all the uniqueness that Levesque embedded into the product, he is now overseeing all responsibilities related to WWE’s creative, in addition to his role as executive vice president of talent relations.

• Vince McMahon called it a retirement, but the appropriate term appears to be resignation. This report only adds to the evidence that McMahon made this move solely because he had to.

• If you enjoy the work of Rey Mysterio, there was plenty to like about his 20-year celebration on Raw. I still feel like the next step is Dominik joining Judgment Day.

• High expectations surround the Bianca Belair-Becky Lynch match at SummerSlam. Will this be the same place Belair drops her title for a second straight year?

• Will Chris Jericho move on to a program with Claudio Castagnoli? Or is there more between Jericho and Eddie Kingston, even after last week’s barbed wire brutality?

• There is a lot to like on tonight’s Dynamite, including the return of Bryan Danielson.

The Undertaker on Ric Flair’s return match: “I just hope he takes care of himself and that he is smart about this”

“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair will return to the wrestling ring on Sunday, headlining a stacked card for the Ric Flair’s Last Match show.

The show will take place a day after SummerSlam, a perfect summer evening for some pro wrestling. Flair will tag with Andrade, who is his son-in-law, against Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett. The weekly Flair docuseries has built this feud in a compelling manner, and there are plenty of fans who will purchase the pay-per-view to see Flair don the robe and make one more walk to the ring.

At 73, Flair is well past the twilight of his career. But he believes this will be a far better showing than his final string of matches over a decade ago in TNA. This tag match is a smart setting to protect him, and those involved in organizing the show—led by Conrad Thompson, another son-in-law—should be extremely proud of the card, which features The Wolves vs. Motor City Machine Guns, Josh Alexander defending the Impact world title as well as Jordynne Grace defending the Impact women’s title and a lucha libre match—featuring Rey Fénix, Bandido, Laredo Kid, and Taurus—that has the potential to be spectacular.

Flair’s match has also drawn attention from those within the business. A longtime companion of his is The Undertaker, and he is among those staring in awe—and perhaps a healthy dose of bewilderment—at Flair’s return.

“I love this business and I’ve dedicated the past 30-plus years of my life to it, but knowing how my body feels after my career, I don’t know how he’s doing it,” says Mark Calaway, who is best known as The Undertaker. “Flair is on a whole other level.”

The history between the two men is long and rich, with both serving as groomsmen for Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and they wrestled each other in an epic WrestleMania X8 encounter that Flair has credited with revitalizing his career. Though Calaway knows him especially well, Flair’s decision to wrestle again—especially since he’ll be doing so with a pacemaker—caught him by surprise.

“It wasn’t long ago he was on his deathbed,” Calaway says. “This world is better with Flair in it. Personally, I don’t want to see it. I’m happy he’s doing well. I wish the best for him, and I hope he gets everything out of it that he wants.”

Calaway also has an active weekend in front of him, running his UNDERTAKER 1 deadMAN show on Friday, which will run opposite The Roast of Ric Flair. And though he has been linked in the past to Starrcast events, Calaway confirmed that he was never a candidate to wrestle Flair in this match.

“No, no, no,” Calaway says. “I saw Flair recently, and I said to him, ‘What are you doing?’ But Flair is Flair. He started telling me, ‘I’m working on this, I’m working on that.’ Again, I want all the best for him. I just hope he takes care of himself and that he is smart about this.”

Tweet of the Week

Triple H is back.

Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.