Jon Moxley is not messing around in 2024. The Purveyor of Violence kicked off the new year in one of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18‘s marquee matches, battling Will Ospreay and David Finlay for the IWGP Global Championship. This past weekend, Moxley returned stateside to AEW and wrestled Shane Taylor on AEW Collision in a victorious effort. Despite his win, Moxley finds himself a bit directionless as 2024 kicks off. After coming up short in pursuit of the AEW International Championship and losing in the finals of the AEW Continental Classic, it remains to be seen as to what Moxley sets his sights on next.
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Jon Moxley Teases AEW Gatekeeper Role in 2024
AEW talent now have to answer to the Death Rider.
Jon Moxley made his first AEW Dynamite appearance of 2024 on tonight’s broadcast, showing face in a backstage vignette. Moxley spoke down the barrel of the camera and reflected on his faction, Black Combat Club, and the success they have enjoyed since forming in March 2022.
“Since you first heard the words Blackpool Combat Club, do you know how many matches we’ve won? How many championships?” Moxley said. “I don’t keep track but trust me, it is a lot. Do you know how many victory parties we’ve had? Zero. See we don’t spend a lot of time patting each other back, and do you know why? We don’t have the time, because there’s always another challenge around the corner. That’s what it takes to be the best: a commitment to be elite.”
Moxley has been with AEW since the company’s inaugural event. He debuted at the conclusion of AEW Double or Nothing 2019, attacking top babyface Kenny Omega and cementing himself as a main-event player. It would take him just nine months to capture the AEW World Title for the first time, and he went on to reign with that prize throughout the pandemic era. Moxley reestablished his ace status twice in 2022, stepping up as Interim AEW World Champion that summer and regaining the prize later that fall when the previous titleholder couldn’t go.
Despite having “ex-WWE guy” on his résumé, Moxley has operated as an AEW flag-bearer for nearly five years now. That commitment is something he sees many of AEW’s new recruits lacking.
“Do you know what elite means? It’s the name of the company, right? A lot of people come here and they don’t know what it means from the start,” Moxley continued. “They think it’s all just a big party. Well, the party’s over. In 2024, I will personally maim and pulverize and torture anybody who can’t get with the program and keep up. I’m going to do it every single time.”
Is Moxley Teasing Ospreay Feud?
That promise of violence seems to be Moxley teasing himself to be AEW’s gatekeeper going forward. Within wrestling, a gatekeeper is an implied label put on the wrestler that new talent test themselves against. This could be prospects getting a call-up to the main roster or stars coming into a company from the larger wrestling world.
If Moxley is indeed bent on sizing up the new guys, a likely feud for him would be against Will Ospreay. Ospreay signed with AEW at AEW Full Gear 2023 this past November but has been finishing up his New Japan commitments before joining full-time.
As he signed, Ospreay noted that he would be “on the road to AEW Revolution,” which is AEW’s next pay-per-view. Beyond that, Ospreay declared that he would be showing the fans “what elite truly looks like.” Considering Moxley used similar language, it may just be a matter of time before these two rekindle their NJPW feud inside an AEW ring.
