AEW’s Jon Moxley won’t be advertised in advance for future indie dates

Jon Moxley will continue to work independent shows but is changing up how he approaches them. 

AEW recently announced that Moxley has signed a five-year extension and will “work exclusively for AEW and its international partners, including New Japan Pro Wrestling.” He is expected to continue wrestling on independent shows, however. 

Our own Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Moxley wanting to work independent dates played a role during contract negotiations between the two sides.  

“Moxley wanted a deal to continue to do independent shows while Khan wanted him to no longer do them,” Meltzer wrote. 

“In time, they agreed to it but Moxley will likely be doing far fewer shows, but like before, Khan has to approve them but in the past he didn’t turn them down.”

Moxley noted that he will change how he approaches taking independent bookings in the future. In order to maintain his health and stay away from alcohol, he will no longer have a “balls to the walls” mentality that can lead to wrestling while hurt and then washing the pain away with alcohol.

“Because of this, he expects to do indies when he wants to, but will not be advertised on those shows or have shows built around him as the drawing card,” Meltzer continued. 

“His feeling is that if he is advertised to be on a show, he won’t want to pull out of the show if hurting, or if he just feels like spending a weekend with his family because of the commitment.”

Khan is also said to have verbally agreed to give Moxley time off if he’s hurting or feeling burnt out. The deal also permits Moxley to work big New Japan shows and the G-1. 

Moxley’s first AEW contract was a three-year deal signed in May 2019. It expired in July after having been frozen for a couple of months due to Moxley taking time away in 2021 to attend rehab. He was technically a free agent, although few knew about this, until September when he re-signed before AEW Grand Slam on September 21.