Jon Moxley Furious With WWE Over How They Originally Handled COVID-19 Testing

Back in late June reports started popping up of a COVID-19 outbreak starting within the WWE [...]

By Connor Casey

Back in late June reports started popping up of a COVID-19 outbreak starting within the WWE Performance Center, resulting in a wave of criticism regarding how WWE was testing its wrestlers and practicing social distancing during the pandemic. There were reportedly more than 30 cases at the height of the outbreak, but the only people who publicly announced they had the virus were Renee Young, Kayla Braxton, Adam Pearce and Jamie Noble. Young's coronavirus case wound up having a direct effect on AEW's programming, as Jon Moxley had to be pulled from episodes as a precaution (though he never tested positive for the virus). The young company went so far as to call out WWE on television, with Taz referring to it as a "sloppy shop" during a promo on Dynamite.

During a recent interview with Wrestling Observer Radio, Moxley gave his honest thoughts on how he felt WWE initially handled the pandemic.

"Yeah, it sucked man. I had f—ing feelings about it, I'll tell you that," Moxley said (h/t Cageside Seats). "... I mean, what did you think was gonna happen if you just never tested anybody? We were testing people from the get-go. There's no way to do this that's absolutely perfect and foolproof, but you have to do the absolute best you can. They got a cajillion dollars and they couldn't afford a couple tests?...It was a bad deal, man. Then I had to pull out of another show 'cause of it, so then I was extra extra pissed. Taz made me feel better though. Taz hit 'em with that sloppy shop line. Then I was like, ok, hell yeah. Taz to the rescue, baby. FTW. The score is even."

During the same interview, Mox discussed Young's battle with the virus. She has since made a full recovery and parted ways with WWE.

"Apparently somebody there had it," he said. "Everybody had to get tested. She was negative. She flew home. Then five or six days later, she starts feeling sick. I'm thinking nothing of it. Next morning, she said she hopes she doesn't have COVID. The next day I went to train in the morning. I came back and she was still in bed. She said she felt like sh*t. I figured we would get her tested. The tests came back in an email. I looked at mine and it said negative. I figured hers would be the same because we have been in super close contact for six days. At this point, I had already pulled out of the next day's TV because all I was going to do was a promo and it wasn't worth the risk. I see it was negative, so for 30 seconds, I figured I could catch the 6 AM flight and still make TV.

"Not 30 seconds later, she gets hers back and it's positive," he continued. I didn't expect us to have different results. I went and slept on the couch. I didn't know what to do so I got tested again as soon as I could. She was bad for a couple days. She was coughing a bunch. I was sleeping on the couch hearing her cough all night. I didn't sleep for two days because I was scared. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was scared because we know so little about this disease and it affects everybody differently. Her case was average at best. She was sick for a couple days. It lingered a bit and now she's fine."

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