He offers Darby a handshake for the code of honor, but since they are already well into the match with Darby making the first offensive moves (and it's rude as fuck imho to only remember to respect your opponent a few minutes into the match after trying to get an advantage in what could clearly be a tactic) Kevin slaps it away quickly and demands a lockup again.

Kevin then almost immediately gets Darby on his back with a couple simple technical wrestling moves, drops his leg from the potential submission, and offers him a hand up instead. This would be the spot for Darby to grin, shrug, take the hand up, and shake hands. They've both done something slightly cheeky and both gotten some uneven offense in, a good spot to reset the match.

That is, of course... Unless Darby is anxious or insecure about his technical wrestling skills compared to Kevin. Surely the champ won't let his ego get in the way-Ope no he kicks his hand away and gets up, putting plenty of distance between them. Bryce Remsburg is backing away with his hands up, not getting involved in this bitch-fight.

Kevin nods, says, 'aight then', locks up and immediately dominates the match, getting Darby on the mat and on his back immediately... in a side-headlock. Darby gets out, trips him, and jumps in to pinning him in a side-headlock too immediately, as Excalibur explains that MJF may say that Darby Allin doesn't have the fundamentals, but just because Darby does all these amazing things doesn't mean that he doesn't have the fundamentals down! While we are hearing this, Kevin has easily gotten out of the side-headlock, and stepped back, taunting Darby in the style Okada does. This... seems to REALLLLLY get to Darby. In a way that getting out of a headlock shouldn't. He shoves Kevin. Kevin shoves back. Now a bit of a scuffle where Darby is able to lure Kevin to the middle of the ring and hit him with a Coffin Drop out of nowhere.

Wow... So... from a test of strength to a failed headlock to immediately trying to pin him with a finisher. Darby, didn't you uh... miss a few steps in the middle there? Kevin kicks out of course.

Kevin hits a hurricanrana and a dropkick, and Darby... sure stumbles to the outside. Supposedly from the dropkick but he's on his feet the whole time and looks in control. Kevin's on the ropes as he's on the floor while we go to commercial, asking Bryce 'whatchu talking 'bout?!' as Bryce Remsburg seems to be saying Darby is hurt BADLY/Stunned and needs a second. *Cough MJF Defense foreshadowing leniency on the 20 count from Bryce while he gets to lie on the ground and recover Cough*. Commentary is shocked that Kevin is not dragging Darby back into the ring to cover him, but just letting Bryce tend his non-existent invisible boo-boos. Excalibur and Taz decide after Kevin finally climbs down to drag Darby in that 'That Dropkick seemed to have a little extra mustard on it' as the only explanation for why Darby is still down for so long. Funny. It looked like it barely hit him... Kevin still manages to pin him for a two-count, which commentary agrees would have been a three-count if he'd moved faster.

Kevin hits him with a few more moves for another couple two-counts but seems slow and confused by Darby's lack of response until he moves Darby into the corner where Darby immediately starts throwing body shots at his stomach and maneuvering him into the corner to crowd him, but Kevin escapes with... An Irish Whip. The simplest wrestling move ever.

Kevin gets Darby up on a top turnbuckle, where Darby is able to shove him back with both hands. Kevin flips off to land safely, but Darby throws himself after him feet first to hit him in the face with a top missile dropkick. He then lures Kevin into taking some swings, hits some body shots, and pulls out a Code Red for a two-count.

No sooner has Kevin gotten to his feet than Darby throws himself at him on the floor in a tope suicida, knocking Kevin's head on the announce desk. Darby then throws Kevin in a chair and climbs to a top turnbuckle, but Kevin recovers and knocks him off with a hurricanrana to the floor.

Kevin, now meeting Darby's level, pulls the cover off the Announce desk, but Bryce Remsburg, who has been hovering and protective of Darby Allin all night (all reign) yells at Kevin that he wins the belt in the ring. Kevin, returns to the ring and proceeds to show that he can do cool big jumps too, leaping from the top rope to knock Darby off announce desk with a springboard clothesline.

Now this was, of course, a very dangerous and stupid stunt. Who would do something like this? Let alone regularly?!?! So by sinking to Darby's level Kevin has likely injured his knee and taken out all his high-flying and his finishers. He tries to leap from the top rope but jumps right into Darby, who pulls out his Trump Card: The Scorpion DeathLock on Kevin's injured knee, while pulling a very fucked up face that implies this is absolutely costing him something to use it. (You can use Dad's curse amulet but it will drain one of your nine lives each time... are you sure son?)

Kevin manages to lunge for the ropes anyways, and Darby pulls him back to the center of the ring by a single leg, and looks like he's contemplating for a moment if he wants to try for a legit submission or use up another Scorpion DeathLock, but ultimately looks like it would cost him too much (physically? emotionally? spiritually?) to do two so quickly, and slaps the ring in frustration, running instead to pull a coffin drop. Kevin gets the knees up, even with the injury.

Commentary mentions that this is Kevin Knight's third title match within a week, (more than Darby at this point), and that the knee that has been injured is the same one that MJF targeted. Darby is fighting being put on the turnbuckle with closed fists to Kevin's head until he breaks the hold and falls back. Darby gets in position for another Coffin Drop and Kevin knocks the ropes to stop him, getting him in position for a Coast 2 Coast... if Kevin's knee can handle it.

Commentary mentions this is what Kevin did to knock Darby out of the C2 when he beat him last year, (which with Darby coming back wrong is implied to be another death or half-death? He's definitely had more heel-rhetoric since his return, I need to count his 9 Lives since then but I'm pretty sure those start with him beating MJF so I'm making a guess this is 3... will update...) and even with the busted knee Kevin manages to complete the Coast 2 Coast, with an only ever so slightly delayed UFO splash because of his knee.

But no! Darby kicks out!

Look. Darby Fans, if you're reading this far, I love this story and not just as an MJF fan. For all that this storyline has implied that Darby's technical wrestling skills are not as strong as the rest of the roster and he survives by maniacal stunts and handful of finishers, they're always fantastic about his Deathproof status. The tragedy of Darby Allin is that he can always kick out and take any punishment, but he can (almost) never pin or technically submit someone cleanly, and that knowledge is eating him up inside literally as much as the devil he made this Faustian Bargain with in the first place. He's in a hell of his own making. He can have what he wants most in the world but only in a way that makes it feel like it means nothing, and he can't admit it because then he has to admit that he's a fraud and that devastates the children and fans he's constantly saying he knows how much this means to them. It's beautiful. So what does he do? When you find yourself in hell, keep going: he keeps trying to speedrun the experience to find the sweet relief on the other side. What does any cursed half-immortal want? To die. He doesn't fear death. He fears humiliation.

Commentary says that even if Kevin doesn't win the AEW world title he'll remember that shot through the table forever because it has effected his wrestling, possibly forever.

Meanwhile, Kevin has set Darby up in the center of the ring for a final UFO splash and started to climb to the top of the turnbuckle. Darby rolls over and starts to feebly crawl away as Bryce Remsburg hovers like a nervous mother hen.

Kevin Hesitates.

Is he doubting his ability to jump more than half the ring distance? He just did that during the Coast 2 Coast. Unless his knee is giving out more... this must be pity.

He climbs down from the turnbuckle and walks over to Darby, who lies, clutching his side, hands up in the universal plea for mercy.

Then Darby immediately kicks out Kevin's injured knee and grabs his head to pull him into a front guillotine.

Kevin still manages to get to his feet even as Darby wraps his legs around him and stumble towards the ropes before collapsing to his knees. Bryce checks the arm, but Kevin keeps it up. Excalibur comments that it's because Darby's failed to get a proper S grip underneath Kevin. Kevin gets all the way to his feet and breaks Darby's hold entirely, but Darby wrenches his arm through the rope and knocks Kevin's head against the top rope as Kevin heads to the outside.

Bryce half-heartedly yells an 'off the hair' and a three count as Darby pulls Kevin from his knees on the apron to lie over the top rope, still half-stunned. Darby hits Kevin with two consecutive Coffin Drops before attempting a pin, getting a three count and finally retaining.

Sting, on site for the Ted Turner memorial, arrives and helps Darby and then Kevin Knight to their feet. Sting raises Darby's hand and then Kevin's hand in his other. Darby looks on the verge of tears. Darby then shakes Kevin's hand under Sting's supervision, though Kevin shakes his hand out a bit after (a stinger or a bit of distaste?)

For Kevin, I think the lessons here are clear: Don't do the stupid stunts that will injure yourself, but the more important one is going to be the one echoing in his ear from Swerve's last piece of advice back in March:

"Every time you have your foot on your competitor's neck, you never apply the pressure. Consider this the last piece of advice that I give you, Kevin. You want to walk amongst killers? You want to compete against killers? Then you need to become a killer."

Darby collapses to sit on a turnbuckle and Sting leans down to whisper in his ear, give him a hug, and pat his back. Whatever he says does not seem to make Darby look less like crying. He has dropped the belt as he sat. Darby, still on the verge of tears, prepares to leave without addressing the audience, even to raise the belt or pose, until MJF comes out.

MJF says it's time for him to finally give him his rematch. Multiple people have had a shot, he's defended multiple times, come on. Darby says no, he told Max, if he wants a rematch he has to put something on the line. Max offers his scarf. Then his Dynamite Diamond Ring. Then a Million Dollars. Darby says no.

These, I would note, are all things that Max holds dear. These are also things that he made or made valuable by his skill and talent in his wrestling career. The icon of himself as a generational talent. The money he made off that career. The title he was the only one to win with that talent and skill.

If we look at the things that Max holds as trophies they're things from his victories and career, the people he has beat and won through his own merit: The oxygen tank from Bryan Danielson. The dog collars from CM Punk and now Hangman Adam Page.

But what does Darby want? He wants his hair. Nothing to do with his wrestling skill or talent. Something of value, to Darby here, is his hair. His image. His vanity. His ego. MJF has already suffered ego death a hundred times. He's a vain fuck, but when it comes to wrestling he'll do just about anything. He care how he looks and he likes money, but when it's about the work he doesn't fuck around.

But Darby... Darby's kind of acting like a bit of poser here. He's too worried about how people will think of him if he loses, he's worried people will think he's not a good technical wrestler, worried what people will say if he can't beat MJF. So he creates accomplishments for his social media: have you heard he climbed Mt. Everest? Have you heard he's 4-wheeling with the AEW Belt? Have you heard about all his famous friends?