Jon Moxley

WWE chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon called Jon Moxley's decision to leave the company a "mutual decision."

McMahon addressed Moxley's departure from WWE in April 2019 during an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast (h/t Jason Ounpraseuth of Wrestling Inc.): 

"In his particular case, he was leaving anyway, and I do believe that was a mutual decision. Though, I wasn’t a part of those conversations. His case is a little bit different, but I remember back when it was WCW and the Monday Night Wars and our talent were getting stripped away and showing up on their show. I think it taught us a lot about business. Handshake deals don’t necessarily matter at the end of the day. You need to have contracts. You need to do business differently."

It was well known at the time that Moxley, who wrestled for WWE as Dean Ambrose, was leaving the promotion.

WWE even acknowledged his final television appearance on the April 8, 2019 episode of Raw, though his last appearance came 12 days later in a six-man tag match with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins against Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin. 

After leaving WWE, Moxley appeared on the Talk is Jericho podcast and said his desire to leave stemmed from a lot of creative differences with Vince McMahon. 

Moxley debuted in AEW at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 25, 2019. He attacked Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega after their main-event match that Jericho won to become the first champion in AEW history. 

Over the course of Moxley's WWE run as Ambrose from 2012-19, he was WWE champion and United States champion once, intercontinental champion three times and Raw tag-team champion with Rollins twice. 

Former UFC fighter Josh Barnett defeated AEW star Jon Moxley in the main event of Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 6 for Game Changer Wrestling at The Cuban Club in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday night.

Thursday marked the third time Moxley headlined Bloodsport, but he couldn't move his record to 3-0 after previously beating Chris Dickinson and Davey Boy Smith Jr.

The first Bloodsport event was held in 2018 under the name Matt Riddle's Bloodsport, which occurred before Riddle signed a contract with WWE.

Since then, the subsequent six Bloodsport shows have been called Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, and Thursday represented the third time Barnett headlined one of the events—and the first time since Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 2 in 2019.

Like Mox, Barnett was undefeated at Bloodsport prior to Thursday's bout, as he fought Minoru Suzuki to a time-limit draw and beat Dickinson by knockout.

While both Moxley and Barnett are cut out for the shoot-style fights that Bloodsport is comprised of, they have significantly different backgrounds.

Moxley is best known for his success in the world of professional wrestling. After thriving on the independent scene, Moxley signed with WWE in 2011 and was part of the main roster as Dean Ambrose from 2012 to '19.

In addition to being one-third of The Shield with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, Moxley went on to become a one-time WWE champion, three-time Intercontinental champion, two-time Tag Team champion and one-time United States champion.

After leaving WWE in 2019, he went back to his Moxley name and signed with AEW. Mox is one of the faces of AEW and a former AEW World champion, in addition to being the reigning IWGP United States champion with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Barnett has some experience in pro wrestling as well, competing in NJPW, Inoki Genome Federation and TNA, but his greatest success came in the Octagon.

The 43-year-old Barnett owns a career MMA record of 35-8 and was a star in the early years of the UFC before returning there later in his career.

Barnett owns victories over some of the biggest names in the history of MMA, including Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Frank Mir and Roy Nelson.

Because of his success in MMA, Barnett is the perfect representative for Bloodsport, as it focuses on the MMA style.

As expected, Moxley and Barnett took the fight to each other Thursday night, and it was Barnett who prevailed and maintained an undefeated record at his trademark event.

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Christian Talks WWE Return

Christian Cage appeared on the Talk Is Jericho podcast last week to discuss his long-awaited return to the ring. Christian said his motivation came after seeing Edge being cleared after nearly a decade out of the business.

While their injuries were not the same—Edge retired because of spinal stenosis and Christian because of concussions—he said he hoped his seven-year layoff would be enough to allow him to "finish [his] career on [his] own terms." After being independently cleared by his own doctor, Christian said he contacted WWE, and the company sent him to Pittsburgh for further evaluation.

WWE's doctors cleared Christian for a return, but he then went months without hearing from the company until it was looking for a Royal Rumble surprise.

"I legit hadn't been in the ring since June when I was at Edge's place, and before that, it had been seven years. I go, hopefully, it's like riding a bike, and I'll just pick it right back. They obviously have rings backstage. I was like, maybe I'll be able to sneak in a ring and just hit the ropes, but there was people in those rings all day, so I couldn't even do it because I'm the surprise. Legit, I didn't get changed till the match before the Rumble was in, and I got changed, walked down.

"Everybody in the hall is like, 'Oh my gosh!' I was just there hanging out for the day. It's not out of the realm of possibility for me to be around. I was there three weeks previous doing some stuff for The Network. It's not like I'm not around, so people are used to seeing me around. 'Oh, we see another guy,' and then I kind of laugh it off and then walk out. When the match actually started, I knew I would have about 40–45 minutes before I had to be in there. I got in the ring, hit the ropes about five times, took about five bumps just to get that initial shock in your system. I was like, all right, that's gonna have to do it."

Christian's appearance in WWE wound up being a one-off, as he didn't ink a new deal and ultimately signed in AEW. His match with Frankie Kazarian on Wednesday's Dynamite was his first singles competition in seven years.

Moxley Challenges Yuji Nagata for IWGP US Title

Fresh off his some would say surprising win over Kenta at NJPW Strong to retain his IWGP United States championship, Jon Moxley now has his sights set on Yuji Nagata. Mox cut a promo on the 52-year-old Japanese wrestling legend, saying he's "big-game hunting" for a dream match against Nagata.

The former AEW champion has held the IWGP U.S. title for more than a year, becoming the longest-reigning champion in that belt's history. The COVID-19 pandemic left Mox unable to defend the championship for most of 2020, so it's likely he's ticking off some of the boxes he wanted to uncheck last year.

Nagata held the IWGP heavyweight championship on two occasions and was the 2001 winner of G1. 

It's likely Moxley will eventually lose the championship at some point this year, but he is a strong bet to defeat Nagata, who is at a point in his legacy where titles aren't particularly necessary. It'll be interesting to see how NJPW handles the feud because Mox's match against Kenta was one of the most anticipated of 2021.

Rollins Tweets at Cena

Apparently, Seth Rollins is very into astrology.

Rollins responded to one of John Cena's motivational tweets Sunday, citing his Gemini nature as a reason he likes change:

It's not entirely clear if this tweet was sent in kayfabe or in earnest. All caps typically is meant to convey some level of sarcasm, but you never truly know with Rollins' social media game.

Regardless, it was all in good fun, and hopefully we'll see Rollins and Cena in a WWE ring at some point together in 2021.