Top 10 AEW Debuts

2. Jon Moxley

You never forget your first.

These days, it all seems like a real common occurrence.

There are regular news reports of WWE wrestlers or “Superstars” being unhappy and frustrated with their position in the company. There are regular releases from WWE, and there are regular signings and debuts of ex-WWE talent in AEW.

Back when Jon Moxley or the former Dean Ambrose left WWE, the product was, let’s just say all right to good.

That was definitely a good thing, by the way. Missing the pre-pandemic era of WWE so hard right now. Remember NXT?

Anyway, there certainly weren’t regular rounds of talent cuts, AEW wasn’t even a thing. So when Moxley rocked up in NJPW, it was awesome!

Then, AEW hosted their first-ever PPV, Double or Nothing. In the main event, an evil Chris Jericho defeated a babyface Kenny Omega.

Jericho was in the middle of telling everyone to thank him when a roar from a particular section of the crowd was heard. The cameras panned to see Jon Moxley making his way to the ring and the whole arena started roaring with excitement.

Amidst this God-like noise, Moxley entered the ring and confronted Jericho, and then dropped him with a Paradigm Shift. You can literally see him breathing in the crowd’s energy. And because he’s a true anti-hero, he went after Omega and beat him up as well.

In the following weeks of AEW weekly programming, Moxley wrecked everyone that came in his path. He was on a warpath to become the AEW World Champion and he targetted Omega. He got more over with the fans as he fully embraced his anti-hero Austine-esque persona. It was what Dean Ambrose could’ve and should’ve been.

They had an Unsanctioned Lights Out match at Full Gear 2019. It definitely divided audiences as it was unscripted violence, just the way Mox likes it.

Moxley finally went head to head with Jericho and beat him for the World title. He carried the belt through the pandemic era, having awesome feuds with the likes of Brodie Lee, Brian Cage, Eddie Kingston, Lance Archer, and Kenny Omega. He was voted Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s  Wrestler of the Year in 2020 and also the number 1 ranked wrestler in PWI 500. Moxley realized his main event potential and has been a top player in AEW ever since.