Jon Moxley discusses concussion protocol in wrestling.
Jon Moxley competed against Rey Fenix at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, losing the AEW International Championship in the bout. Moxley suffered a concussion in the match, and an audible was called to have Fenix win.
Speaking to The Messenger, Moxley said the concussion happened "30 seconds in" and sent him to "f---in' outer space for like 10 minutes."
Moxley said, "I just kept getting progressively more lost and couldn't figure out where the f--- I was. Then I had this moment of clarity, 'Oh, I’m f---ed up. I gotta get the f--- out of here.'"
Despite Moxley suffering a conclusion almost immediately, the match went for over 11 minutes, and Moxley was dropped on his head twice as part of the finish because the referee Rick Knox did not count to three after the first Fenix driver despite Moxley not getting his shoulder up.
Moxley was visibly not himself after the match, needing up to get to the back.
"In pro wrestling, it's a really touchy subject," Moxley said about concussions. "Somebody’s gotta f---ing bring it up. Pro wrestling is such a strange thing. In football, if a guy goes down and he doesn't go back to the huddle, you know he's f---ed up. In pro wrestling, a lot of times it's hard to tell what's real and what's fake. Maybe a really experienced wrestler and a really experienced doctor, who are trained to see signs of that sh--, are watching it on a separate feed. Even if they have a doctor close to ringside, what if the guy f---ing 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. If a guy f---ing spins around or something and the doctor goes, 'Is he OK?' The wrestler can tell him, That's just a pro wrestling thing. Don't worry.'"
As far as solutions to spotting a concussion in wrestling match, Moxley suggested, "As soon as the doctor sees a sign of somebody being concussed, he just hits the f---ing 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."
Hangman Page infamously suffered a concussion against Moxley on the October 18, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite. The match was stopped and Page was attended to by officials.
Moxley returned to television on Saturday's AEW Collision, helping the Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Wheeler Yuta) against House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews, & Brody King).
