Tom Lawlor Shares Backstage Details On How Jon Moxley Planned Their 2022 Match

Tom Lawlor and Jon Moxley did battle for DEFY Wrestling in April of 2022, something Lawlor wrote about in a new feature article. Lawlor and Moxley went to war at the April 30th, 2022 show in Seattle, with Moxley getting the win after 20 minutes.

Lawlor reflected on the match and its leadup in a piece written for Moonsault Press. He talks about Moxley’s entering rehab after the match was announced, the match itself and more. You can see some highlights below:

On Moxley Going Into Rehab After The Match Was Announced:

“At this point in my career, I was at my trollish best, having just finished my MMA career with a win the previous year in the Professional Fighters League and now proudly carrying the New Japan Pro Wrestling STRONG Championship as its inaugural title-holder. Weeks before our scheduled match in Seattle-based DEFY Wrestling, Jon entered an inpatient alcohol treatment program for an indeterminate amount of time.

“For years, we’ve witnessed this man perform death-defying feats, showing a general disregard for his personal safety at all costs. At his most vulnerable and now with a newborn baby, he bravely walked away from wrestling while at the top of the industry. Like me, fans were caught off guard, wondering when they would see him again. Our fight was now in limbo.”

On Moxley Coming Out of Rehab Stronger:

“In January of 2022, Moxley emerged like Bigfoot in the Patterson-Gimlin film. He was more rugged, unrefined, and hairier than ever, now carrying a focused element of danger. Most impressively, the man seemingly walked right out of the rehabilitation center and back to the top of the industry, stomping through the competition while continuing to receive the fans’ adoration. Mox was somehow able to use his newfound sobriety to reach a higher level in the ring.”

On His Planning For the Match:

“Two weeks before the match, I appeared on Phil Schneider’s Way of the Blade podcast. Phil asked if I had any matches where I had bladed — at the time, I was adamantly against the idea and had no interest in it. I was still fighting MMA up until that year, so the idea of cutting myself and having it reopen in a fight, causing me to lose out on a $30,000 payday, was unfathomable. In other pro wrestling matches, I had fallen through tables and been bashed with objects, knowing that if I got busted open hardway, it was somehow more acceptable. Still, I didn’t intend to ever purposely open myself up in a match. This mindset remained unchanged going into the match with Moxley.”

“A wrestling match can take many forms: a challenger fighting from underneath but falling victim to a more dominant competitor, a bully getting their comeuppance at the hands of an honorable athlete who’s driven to the brink, or simply two people trying to prove that their opponent doesn’t have what it takes. In the process of coming up with a match, the wrestlers usually work out some sort of linear blueprint — we plan sequences, come up with ideas for reversals, and figure out callback spots. None of that overt planning would ever come to pass with me and Mox. It had to be a fight from start to finish.”

On Moxley’s Plans For the Match:

“Outside the ring, dealing with Moxley is like talking to a domesticated animal. Inside the ring, it’s like dealing with a wild animal. Backstage at DEFY, Jon and I are confined to a private, cramped room that the company usually reserves for participants in the main event. He paces around, out of control yet completely focused.

“Moxley begins detailing his abstract vision for the match. I’m trying to make sense of his plans, and I begin to feel the walls closing in around me. It felt more like he was describing strategies for Chutes & Ladders than a professional wrestling match, but I figure, hell, I’ve been in real fights with uncooperative opponents — I can make it through anything this maniac can conjure up. Mox suggests that I should blade during the match, but my inexperience makes me averse to handling it myself. Jon offers the option of blading me, but he seems hesitant to essentially stab a UFC fighter in the head, even in a controlled environment.”

On Blading During the Bout:

“[Moxley] fights out of a choke and delivers headbutt after headbutt before dropping me with a suplex. He fights on, mustering the strength to clothesline me back to the floor. I land a kick to stifle him for a second, and in an attempt to repeat my success from earlier, I try sending him back into the ringpost, this time leading to my downfall. Moxley reverses it, sending me face-first into the same steel post from earlier. Jon’s on top of me, I feel a punch connect with my forehead, then a thin spike all the way to what feels like my frontal lobe.

“The crowd is aghast, their previous cheers turning to concerned murmurs as we both come up bloodied. I’m in some sort of alternate universe as my forehead leaks onto the mat, Jon continuing to lay in elbows. Mox is a pro, cinching in every hold around my neck, my head now flowing profusely. Each strike sprays red mist into the air and across the canvas. The same fans who vociferously booed me earlier have begun to gasp at the horror of my bloodied face, their screams and shrieks echoing throughout Washington Hall as they cry for mercy.”

On What The Match Did For Him:

“I lost a lot of blood that night in Washington Hall, but more importantly, I gained the crowd’s respect. Years later, this still stands out as the most talked-about singles match of my career and will probably remain that way.”

“While wrestling fans knew I was a tough competitor, they didn’t know that I was willing to fight for my life for them. Without a single weapon, Jon Moxley and I fought until our scheduled professional wrestling contest became a de facto deathmatch. As gruesome, terrifying, and dangerous as it was, I’ve never wanted to feel so alive as I did that night. “