Former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley went to war with NJPW star Tomohiro Ishii on the June 28, 2023, edition of Dynamite. WWE veteran Jim Cornette thinks it was the worst televised match he has ever seen.
Moxley and Ishii had only ever crossed paths in singles competition once before, that being their legendary clash in the 2019 G1 Climax tournament for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The contest ended with the former AEW World Champion picking up a hard-fought victory.
But did their rematch live up to the lofty expectations placed upon it? Cornette seemingly doesn't think so, as he criticized the bout's quality. Here's what he said on the Jim Cornette Experience podcast:
"They stood up and did freestanding headbutts where you don't grab the other guy's head, you just [go] back-and-forth. You can obviously tell they are not trying to, really (...) they're bonking each other's head just enough to f**king hurt, but it looks phony as s**t, and they did 12 of them."
Cornette added that some of the spots in the bout didn't seem believable:
"You can tell they're obviously holding back, but that was just for them to get Moxley's blood on Ishii's head so it could look even more grizzly. It still looked fake because they weren't headbutting each other and trying obviously to avoid doing that. I wrote 'this is the worst televised match in major league wrestling promotion history." [6:22 - 7:14]
The match was reportedly put together on short notice, as Bryan Danielson was meant to be Ishii's opponent instead of Moxley. However, Danielson suffered a broken arm at Forbidden Door 2023, so he was removed from the contest.
Fans will hear from Jon Moxley this Wednesday on AEW Dynamite
With the announcement that the Blackpool Combat Club and The Elite will face each other in a Blood & Guts Match on July 19, what does Jon Moxley have on his mind going into the bout?
Fans will find out this week on AEW Dynamite when he addresses the audience. However, the most exciting part of Moxley's segment this week will be that the BCC member will not be present in the building. In fact, he won't even be in the same country hosting the show.
Jon Moxley is currently taking part in the NJPW STRONG Independence Day event in Tokyo, Japan. This means that his segment will be a pre-taped promo.
Moxley and Homicide were defeated by El Desperado and Death Match legend Jun Kasai on Night One of the NJPW event. But Moxley will get a chance to make up for the loss on Night Two when he faces El Desperado one-on-one in a "Final Death" match.
What do you think Jon Moxley will have to say on AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit the Jim Cornette Experience and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.