What Do the Death Riders Do Beyond 2026?

This past episode of Dynamite took place at the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was titled “A Tribute to PAC” after the Englishman unexpectedly passed away last weekend. This passing followed the other unexpected passing of The Butcher earlier this month. The entire AEW roster, including CEO Tony Khan, opened the show with a 10-bell salute to pay respect to AEW's most recently fallen wrestler. Nearly everyone wore a PAC shirt to honor him. Many who were close to him were crying, looking like they couldn’t process that ‘The Bastard’ really wasn’t there with them anymore, and understandably so. He just wrestled Andrade El Ídolo over the AEW National Championship at All Out. PAC was in the prime of his career in a company that truly booked him like the main event-level talent he was. His life was truly cut way too short.

The tribute show was about as fitting a tribute for a great man as one could get. Continental Champion Jon Moxley successfully defended his championship against PAC’s long-time rival Orange Cassidy. The two called back to ‘The Bastard’s’ match with Cassidy at Revolution in 2020, imitating certain spots that long-time AEW fans immediately recognized. Bryan Danielson would make his television return to embrace with Moxley, the same man who, with the help of PAC, kicked him out of the Blackpool Combat Club and turned it into the Death Riders we know today. Will Ospreay hit a Shooting Star Pele Kick and a Black Arrow, two moves synonymous with PAC, to beat Ricochet in their non-title bout. Marina Shafir ended her six-woman tag team match by getting Britt Baker to tap out to The Brutalizer, another move synonymous with ‘The Bastard’. The main event saw Wheeler YUTA, Gabe Kidd, Claudio Castagnoli, and Daniel Garcia take on The Don Callis Family’s Lance Archer, Josh Alexander, Jake Doyle, Mark Davis, and a returning Wardlow. Many fans, along with commentators Excalibur and Tony Schiavone, were surprised to see Moxley take a seat beside them at the commentary table. The shock of the night was hearing Danielson’s music and seeing ‘The American Dragon’ in wrestling gear for the first time in over a year to help out the Death Riders in honor of PAC. They would go on to win before a heartfelt video tribute ended the show, highlighting just how long ‘The Bastard’ has been wrestling for, how many top wrestlers knew him, and how impactful he was to modern wrestling.

Where do the Death Riders go now? It was clear that before his unexpected passing, PAC was creating some type of tension with Moxley and teasing that he could potentially stab the faction in the back. It was clear even in the video that AEW revealed took place shortly after ‘Mox’s’ match with Ospreay at All Out, where ‘The Aerial Assassin’ successfully defended his World Championship against the leader of the Death Riders. ‘The Bastard’ was clearly distant from Moxley and was the last one to leave the frame before the end of the promo. AEW could double down towards that direction and have someone like Castignoli or Kidd turn on ‘Mox’ because that’s what PAC was planning on doing anyways.

This wouldn’t be the first time Moxley would be a part of a turn shortly after heartbreaking wrestling news. The Continental Champion went by Dean Ambrose in WWE. The company briefly brought The Shield back together in 2017 after over three years of being apart and constantly feuding with one another. Seth Rollins and Ambrose were the first two to officially team up together, and they even won the WWE Tag Team Championships together. Roman Reigns would finally solidify The Shield’s official return in October of 2017, bringing the three superstars back together until Reigns announced his leukemia had come back on an episode of Raw in 2018, and he had to take extended time off. The three brothers embraced on television. ‘The Architect’ and ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ would win the Raw Tag Team Championships that same night in the main event, only for Ambrose to shock the world by turning heel on Rollins to end the show.

Fans were divided, but the majority didn’t like WWE’s creative decision to turn ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ heel that same night. The majority of fans saw it as distasteful and too soon. Some admired the unexpectedness of the turn, however. Should AEW want to go down a similar path, they should let time allow for a proper heel turn on Moxley rather than what WWE did back in 2018. It would make it a lot less controversial. Shafir would be the most likely to turn since she was the closest to PAC. Castignoli and Kidd could join in her efforts. The former could finally get a true main event singles run in AEW. They would have to book them as more evil than before to pull a heel turn off properly.