Watch: AEW’s Matt Jackson Nails Johnny Cage’s Signature Move From Mortal Kombat

The Young Bucks successfully defeated Matt and Mike Sydal on this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite. Late in the match Matt Jackson dodged an attack from Mike by hitting a split, then punching his opponent in the groin. Mortal Kombat fans immediately recognized this as one of Johnny Cage‘s signature moves.

Cage, unfortunately, was absent from the 2021 Mortal Kombat — though his presence in a potential sequel was heavily hinted at by the final shot of the film.

Producer Todd Garner explained at a press event (attended by ComicBook) last month why the fan-favorite character was withheld from the first movie.

“I want to make a sequel, and I’ve now got Johnny Cage, which hasn’t been used in the first one,” Garner said. “So I have a big stick and carrot that maybe they’ll let me have a Johnny Cage real presence in the second one. And secondarily, when you think about Mortal Kombat, if you just think about the patina of the movie, it has a very Asian feel to it. And I early on felt uncomfortable having a white male lead kind of lead that charge in the first movie. It just felt Hollywoodish to me, which is weird because he’s an actor, which also is weird. And probably my bias of… it just feels weird if I’m trying to do, and I was, do something different and diverse and true. Is it a cop-out to all of a sudden have Ryan Reynolds, not him, but… As the lead felt a little disingenuous to me and super easy to bring him in, in a big bombastic fun way in the second. And he deserves that as a character. And I love these characters, so we thought hard about it.”

Fellow wrestler The Miz has already made his argument for playing the role. He even got the nod of approval from Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon.