Jon Moxley has spoken about the recent concussion he suffered and has suggested a major adjustment to vastly reduce the risk of further injuries.
As seen at AEW Grand Slam, Moxley suffered the injury while defending the International Championship against Rey Fenix. An audible was called to crown Fenix the new champion as Mox was in no condition to continue the match.
Speaking with The Messenger, the former AEW World Champion confirmed that the concussion occurred within the first 30 seconds of the match and left him not knowing where he was for the next 10 minutes, going on to explain the realisation that something was wrong:
“I just kept getting progressively more lost and couldn’t figure out where the f*ck I was,” he explained. “Then I had this moment of clarity, ‘Oh, I’m f*cked up. I gotta get the f*ck out of here.'”
As is sometimes the case in matches, wrestlers will sell head injuries as a part of the story. Moxley continued and acknowledged that other sports do not sell injuries, so it can be hard to differentiate what is a part of the match and what is a legitimate cause for concern:
“In pro wrestling, it’s a really touchy subject [but] somebody’s gotta f*cking bring it up. Pro wrestling is such a strange thing,” he continued. “In football, if a guy goes down and he doesn’t go back to the huddle, you know he’s f*cked up. In pro wrestling, a lot of times it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake.”
Jon Moxley Calls For Increased Safety In Wrestling
The Blackpool Combat Club member then pitched a way that in-ring safety could be increased. The proposal would see two trained professionals who would be able to spot the signs of concussion early, one who is medically trained and one who would be able to recognise whether or not it is a sell. Moxley continued and stressed that they would not be a part of the storyline and only be there to increase safety:
“Maybe a really experienced wrestler and a really experienced doctor, who are trained to see signs of that sh*t, are watching it on a separate feed. Even if they have a doctor close to ringside, what if the guy f*cking spills outside the ring? He doesn’t see that. The doctor and wrestler are completely untethered to the creative portion of it. They have no idea nor any interest in what the story is, who wins, who loses or how long it’s supposed to go.”
Priding themselves on the performance, wrestlers will often fight through injuries and finish the match regardless, addressing what comes next when they get backstage. Mox concluded by stating that this would not happen with his pitch and no matter what, if there is a suspected concussion then the match would stop immediately:
“As soon as the doctor sees a sign of somebody being concussed, he just hits the f*ckng red button. Boom, this is over. No matter how much time is left. No matter if it’s on live TV. It’s just over, and you figure it out from there.”
Moxley made a surprise return on the October 21st edition of AEW Collision, coming to the aid of Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli and FTR.
Also having previously competed in New Japan and reigning as the IWGP United States Champion, Jon Moxley will be making a return to NJPW in the near future.