AEW World Champion Jon Moxley opens up about lingering injuries and how he’s been managing his pain, during a recent interview with Authority Magazine. Moxley tells Authority that his hip has been bothering him for several months. He’s been treating undergoing physical therapy.

Moxley advises everyone to pick a great physical therapist and commit to the program with 100% effort. Some wrestlers never fully recover from major injuries, and Mox thinks a lot of that has to do with the effort put in during recovery. Two decades into his pro wrestling career, father time and years of taking bumps are catching up with the champ.

“For me, being that I’m 38 and have been getting the crap kicked out of me for 20 years, I don’t recover as quickly as I used to. That’s been difficult to accept.

There’s a principle I learned at 11 years old when I started wrestling, basically the principle that hard work beats talent, or at least it can. You may not have been given the same natural gifts; you may not have the same advantages. It doesn’t matter. Hard work evens the playing field.”

Jon Moxley

Jon Moxley defied the odds to become an all-time greta pro wrestler. He doesn’t look like a jacked up action figure, and he doesn’t possess the athletic gifts of Will Ospreay or Ricochet. He’s gotten to the top thanks to his work ethic. Moxley draws inspiration from warriors like legendary wrestler Dan Gable, who wouldn’t be satisfied with his training sessions unless he had to be literally carried off the mat after practice.

“The ability to endure, to have discipline, a simple willingness to put in more time and effort- this was like learning some cheat code to the universe. Discovering that simple principle, changed the course of my life. That’s what gave me the confidence to pursue pro wrestling despite the astronomical odds of success.

I was a nobody; I didn’t have any advantages, but who cares? I’d just outwork everyone.”

Jon Moxley

Like most elite pro wrestlers, Moxley has dealt with his share of physical ailments throughout his career. In 2017, he underwent two surgeries to repair a severe triceps injury (one of them to clear up a MRSA staph infection). Early into his run with AEW, he developed another MRSA staph infection in his elbow, which put him out of action for several months. In September 2023, he was sidelined with a concussion.