When it was announced that Jon Moxley had signed a new deal with AEW, there was one particular line in the press release which caught the attention of fans.
Nestled in amongst the news of his five-year contract and extended backstage roles, was a comment regarding the star being signed to “AEW and their international partners.” During Moxley’s time with All Elite Wrestling he has often appeared at independent shows, most recently with GCW. However, many took that comment to mean that this would now be a thing of the past.
Jon Moxley Is Not Quite As AEW Exclusive As Some Thought
Despite Moxley’s exclusive status, it has now been suggested that he will still be able to work elsewhere. Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted Moxley’s new contract was written with a view to preserving his long-time health and ability to perform for as long as possible.
“One thing notable in the AEW press release was saying that Moxley would be working exclusively for AEW and New Japan. Some read that as saying he would not be doing anymore independent shows. During the negotiations, Moxley wanted a deal to continue to do independent shows while [Tony] Khan wanted him to no longer do them.
In time, they agreed to it but Moxley will likely be doing far fewer shows, but like before, Khan has to approve them but in the past he didn’t turn them down. But Moxley has decided to change how he does them.
Moxley noted that with the AEW scheduled being as it is, he has time to do independent shows on weekends and he likes doing them. But part of the deal is to take care of his health, and stay away from the alcohol issues and other issues he has had which means no longer balls to the walls with the mentality that if he’s hurting, he going to wrestle, unless the injuries are so bad he simply can’t, and then use alcohol to wash away the pain and keep going as he did in his prior life.
Because of this, he expects to do indies when he wants to, but will not be advertised on those shows or have shows built around him as the drawing card. Moxley was by far the biggest drawing card on the indie scene but of late had cut back to only doing shows with promotions that he likes.
His feeling is that if he is advertised to be on a show, he won’t want to pull out of the show if hurting, or if he just feels like spending a weekend with his family because of the commitment. He said he’s looking at the idea of if he feels good and wants to wrestle, he will come to a show as a surprise, show up the day of, comparing it to a famous comedian that shows up at a small club with no notice just to either have fun or try out new material.
Both sides have agreed to the deal based on lengthening the longevity of his career while keeping him as healthy as a main event wrestler who does very hard physical matches can stay.”
Jon Moxley will be back in action on a special Tuesday night edition of AEW Dynamite on October 18th. Moxley will be defending his AEW World Championship against former champion Hangman Adam Page.