Jon Moxley Says He Had An Epiphany In December 2023, It Flipped A Switch In Him

2023 was a difficult year for Jon Moxley, but he says he turned it around in December.

2023 was a difficult year for Jon Moxley, but he says he turned it around in December.

Former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley entered a rehab program for alcohol addiction in November 2021, and he completed the program. He returned to AEW in January 2022, and he has since regained his status as one of the company’s top stars. However, in recent weeks, he has openly stated that 2023 was a challenging year.

Speaking with ComicBook.com’s Christian Hoffer, Jon Moxley reflected on the challenges he faced in 2023. He noted that the last few years have been difficult, and he has been trying to figure out how to get back to normal. 

“Yeah, 2023 was actually very tough. It’s been a tough couple of years actually. I went to rehab a couple of years ago, and there’s a lot more to that than what they tell you – the reality of actually stopping doing coke or go to rehab or stop drinking or whatever. Not drinking….that’s easy to a degree. It’s only one thing you got to do, just not drink. But, that was just a way of life for me for over 20 years and you mess up your brain chemistry over time. So, it’s the other side of getting everything back to normal and just figuring out how to live and while your brain kind of rewires itself and heals and comes back to normal. But what’s never been normal to you? It hadn’t been normal to me since I was like 14 or something like that. That part’s really hard. Everybody’s going to be different and will present challenges and stuff. So the last couple of years have been really challenging. There’s a lot of stuff outside of the ring and wrestling gets annoying, like it always does,” Moxley said.

Moxley then stated that he had an “epiphany” around December 2023, just as the AEW Continental Classic was starting to heat up. He noted that switching medications helped, and something helped get him back on track. 

“I got sorted out with my doctors and stuff right around December, which was right around when the [Continental Classic] was starting,” Moxley said. “I was having kind of a bad time the first couple weeks in there but things kind of switched, especially once I stopped taking this medication. I just kind of had a, I don’t know what to call it, sort of an epiphany or a splash of cold water in the face. Something just hit me,” Moxley said.

Moxley went on to describe how he had gotten tired of getting hit in the face by circumstances, so he forced himself to get his act together. He stated that, in doing so, he flipped a switch, so the second half of the AEW Continental Classic wound up being a different experience.

“I don’t know, maybe I was just accepting of getting punched in the face by circumstances over and over. Eventually, guys just get tired and they just get used to being on the bottom. They stop even trying to get up. At some point, I think I just got used to just taking abuse from circumstances. Then I kind of woke up out of it and I was like, ‘What the? Get your act together.’ That flipped the switch in me. So, the second half of that whole tournament was a whole different story,” Moxley said.

Heading into the new year, Moxley felt refreshed. He has made it clear that he wants 2024 to be his year. Moxley noted that the world has seemingly written him off, but he teased that he’s coming, and he’s going to make some noise.

“Now it’s a new year and stuff, and I’m like, ‘2024 is going to be my year.’ I don’t know, many times in my career I feel like I got a little momentum brewing in myself. A lot of times the universe will bow to your whims if you make it so, and many times where I almost feel like exactly what I feel. I feel like I know something the rest of the world doesn’t know yet. They’re not even looking at me. They’ve completely written me off and have no idea I’m coming and I’m about to blow everybody’s world up. Like I know a secret the rest of the world doesn’t know kind of thing,” Moxley said.

Moxley will return to AEW on the January 20 episode of AEW Collision. Check out the card here.

Click here to see what Jon Moxley had to say about his Red Hood gear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18.

Check out Moxley’s comments about challenging Tetsuya Naito here.