Jon Moxley has become the heart of AEW. With a career that spans major runs both with WWE (as Dean Ambrose) and AEW, many fans consider Moxley to be one of the greatest wrestlers to ever make a name for himself under his terms. Moxley has also evolved his wrestling style throughout his career moving from an agile wrestler to a brute force brawler as he's gotten older.
RELATED: 10 Current AEW Wrestlers Who Are Overrated (& Why)
Although Moxley is not the best technical wrestler on the planet, he's still able to use his move set to put on entertaining matches. The three-time AEW World Champion is far from a perfect wrestler and this list will examine the 10 biggest botches of Moxley's wrestling career.
10 Leaves John Cena On The Top Rope
Few rivals in the WWE challenged Dean Ambrose at the level of John Cena. Not only was Cena the top name at WWE when Ambrose arrived, but he was also one of The Shield's early targets. The two even competed in a feud for the WWE title in 2016. Before they were battling in the main event scene, Ambrose also battled Cena for the US title.
On an episode of Raw, while the two competed in their second singles match ever, Ambrose botched a top rope sunset flip powerbomb that led to moans from the crowd as Cena stayed frozen on the top rope.
9 Falls Off The Stage While Chasing Adam Page
AEW had to force Moxley away from the AEW Championship after he kept bailing out CM Punk both after he got hurt and after the All Out media scrum. During a promo, after losing the title to MJF, Moxley and Adam Page started a brawl that was supposed to make its way to the ramp.
As the two started battling near the ramp, Moxley tried to chase Page and ended up falling off the stage. It was a hilarious botch in a moment that was supposed to be intense.
8 Falls Flat On A Suicide Dive
Moxley is not a high-flying wrestler. At AEW, he's taken a step away from most of the top rope moves and dives outside of the ring he used in the WWE. A botched suicide dive on Kane is a good example of Moxley botching the moves he's rid from his moveset.
RELATED: 10 Current AEW Wrestlers Who Look Nothing Like They Did Before AEW
As Dean Ambrose attempted to jump out of the ring through the ropes and hit Kane, his jump did not have enough push to make Ambrose land on Kane. Instead, he missed Kane and ended up landing straight on the floor.
7 Forgets When His Pay Per View Match Is
Moxley has improved on the mic since leaving WWE. He's a much more grounded person and sells almost everything he says during promos. Promos before a pay-per-view main event are, arguably, the most important promos for a wrestler since they are tasked to sell an entire program.
Moxley hilariously botched the last promo before Full Gear 2022, which featured an AEW title match between him and MJF, by forgetting what day the pay-per-view took place. He did his whole aggressive promo and then asked MJF if the pay-per-view was on "Saturday or Sunday," which is how the entire segment ended.
6 Holds The Rope On A Suicide Dive
Another example of Moxley using a high-flying move to his detriment happened during a match on SmackDown. This time, instead of missing the jump, Dean Ambrose held onto the rope, which ended up forcing him to fall straight to the floor. Bray Wyatt did his best to sell the move but it was very clearly another botched suicide dive.
5 Adam Page Gets KO'd
Sometimes a botch can have devastating effects on other wrestlers and that's what happened to Adam Page when Moxley botched a clothesline. During an episode of Dynamite, the two competed for the AEW Championship in a singles match.
Moxley attempted a clothesline that ended up missing Page's chest and knocked him out cold. The move at first seemed like a "wrestling angle," but ended up being so severe that the match was stopped and the cameras stayed off Page until he was carted off.
4 Sells A Soft GTS From Kenta
Moxley had his first major solo feud with Kenta in 2021 in AEW. Although he was no stranger to taking a GTS from CM Punk, he had a tough outing taking one from Kenta on an episode of Dynamite. During a promo segment, Kenta attempted a GTS that Moxley sold. The issue was, Kenta clearly barely grazed Moxley. It was a tough spot for a moment that featured an exciting introduction of an NJPW star in AEW.
3 Roman's Delayed Reaction At Survivor Series
At Survivor Series 2015, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns competed for the WWE Championship. The match featured a ton of small botches, but none as bad as a botched top rope sunset flip powerbomb.
RELATED: 10 Wrestlers That Fans Changed Their Opinions On Over The Years
During the match, Ambrose had Roman on the top rope and everyone was excited for a sunset flip powerbomb. After Moxley performed the flip, Roman stayed frozen for half a second before he flew to the ring and landed on his back.
2 Moxley Hits His Head On A Suplex
One of the most horrifying-looking botches of Moxley's career was one he received at the hands of Kevin Owens. During a match on SmackDown, Kevin Owens attempted a suplex on Moxley that ended with Moxley landing on the top of his head. He was clearly shaken up after the botched landing.
1 The Exploding Barb Wire Match
The conclusion of AEW Revolution 2021 was supposed to feature huge fireworks. After Kenny Omega defeated Moxley to win the AEW World Championship, Eddie Kingston ran to the ring to save his friend from the explosion. Every fan who purchased the show was on the edge of their seat and then a few limp fireworks happened...and that was it. The botch was so bad that even Moxley trashed the explosion after the show went off the air.
