Jon Moxley continues to embody the spirit of AEW

There are a lot of headlines coming out of All Elite Wrestling that do not involve the action that goes on in the ring. While debates about them rage, there’s one person that AEW and its fans can always count on. That is Jon Moxley. Moxley added yet another accolade to his resume this weekend, picking up the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. He’s continuing to put on the best post-WWE run of any competitor to have left the organization and in many ways, he’s everything that fans want AEW to be.

Moxley and Tetsuya Naito had a twenty-minute battle where Moxley came out on top. This win makes him the only man to hold the AEW, IWGP, and WWE Championship. It’s the eighth title he’s won since his final WWE singles title, the Intercontinental Championship he held back in 2019. And while belts may mean a lot in professional wrestling, it’s everything else that Moxley stands for within AEW that reigns supreme.

Think about the biggest headlines coming out of the company right now. Many are wrapped around CM Punk, a former champion who hasn’t appeared in the organization since All In back in August. Yet, his name still comes up and thanks to that interview with Ariel Helwani, it was a focal point in two weeks of AEW Dynamite programming. There’s a lot that fans of AEW can critique about the company they’ve come to love, but there’s nothing to complain about when it comes to Moxley.

There’s a reason Moxley has held the AEW World Championship three times. The last two runs were due to issues with Punk and the championship needing to go on a credible figure that fans would rally behind. Moxley was the only man who could fill that void without any backlash from viewers. While others are giving quotes and comments to feed into the controversy, Moxley continues to go out there and put on great matches. Others on the roster are charged with giving promos about the “spirit” of AEW, while Moxley embodies it through action in the ring.

There are a lot of things fans can complain about when discussing either pro wrestling or sports entertainment. Problematic people behind and in front of the camera. Inadequate time was given to women’s divisions. Backstage drama. But Jon Moxley is the opposite. His post-WWE run is everything that fans should embrace about the industry. As things continue to go bad, look to Moxley and his success as a celebration of when things go right.