Jon Moxley Thinks the Industry Needs Better Concussion Procedures

In a recent interview with The Messenger, AEW’s Jon Moxley shared his thoughts on the general practices surrounding in-ring concussions at live events. Moxley, who recently suffered a concussion during a title match with Ray Fenix, explained that matches should not be allowed to continue after such and event occurs and provided his own suggestions for how a promotion should handle the circumstance. You can find a few highlights from Moxley on the subject below.

On the complexity of a concussion situation during a performance: “In pro wrestling, it’s a really touchy subject. Somebody’s gotta fucking 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 fucked 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 shit, are watching it on a separate feed. Even if they have a doctor close to ringside, what if the guy fucking 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 fucking 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.'”

On his belief of how the company should handle a match when a concussion occurs: “As soon as the doctor sees a sign of somebody being concussed, he just hits the fucking 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.”