Kevin Knight had a night to forget this week, starting the show with a loss against World Champion MJF, and later failing to earn his redemption by taking the pin, ensuring he, Mike Bailey, and “Hangman” Adam Page lost their Trios titles to the Don Callis Family’s Kyle Fletcher, Kazuchika Okada, and Mark Davis.

The main event was set after Page and Knight had already wrestled, with Knight losing his World title match and Page winning a squash match before calling out the World Champion. MJF and Page had a little interaction, but the segment was closed with the DCF attacking the Trios Champions and Callis calling for the title match, given that all three are already pursuing singles gold, two titles held by Okada and Fletcher specifically.

It was textbook ‘Babyface(s) takes on way too much trying to play the hero’ with Knight clearly beaten after his match, and ultimately falling victim to the numbers game of the DCF. And while it solves an issue of AEW’s own making, getting the Trios titles off of those chasing other titles, it also cemented the DCF as a unit and perpetuated the ongoing storyline between Okada and Takeshita.

Obviously, the match itself was fun, but the result alone guaranteed a bit more room to tell the stories of each character. Page is now a pure challenger going into Revolution, unaffected by the responsibilities that one should have as Trios Champion.

Knight will have to deal with back-to-back losses in one night, potentially laying the groundwork for JetSpeed to run their own split storyline with both chasing titles. After all, Swerve Strickland was effusive in his praise for Knight just weeks ago, and could easily find himself leading a heel group including Knight. That also frees up Bailey to not only pursue singles gold but potentially feud with Knight. And crucially, it adds a sense of jeopardy to the babyfaces ahead of all that.

The title loss can be a catalyst for each character to grow out of the “Jet Set Rodeo” tagline. Is it an issue that the titles are now on people who are singles champions already? A little. But given that “Jet Set Rodeo” were only Trios Champions to pave the way for Powerhouse Hobbs to leave, it fixes a pre-existing issue that stood to over-expose the man who may well be World Champion by the end of the month, as well as holding up the two immensely talented workers in Bailey and Knight.

And who doesn’t love a title change on free TV? When it works in the ring and going forward the way it does, this writer can find nothing else but a ‘Loved’ for it.

Written by Max Everett