Jon Moxley doesn’t appear to be about getting fans’ hopes up or leaving some intrigue about the possibility of Shane McMahon joining AEW.
When asked by The Post in a recent Zoom interview if he’d welcome McMahon in if he was willing to do things the right way and work in Moxley’s newly reset AEW, the current world champion dismissed the idea.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think,” Moxley said. “We might as well talk about Santa Claus joining AEW. There’s zero chance, Doesn’t mean it couldn’t be, you know, f–king cool, but like zero chance.”
Moxley’s comments are noteworthy because many fans believe if McMahon was coming in he would be involved in the four-time AEW world champion’s current storyline — potentially as the person pulling the strings behind his new Death Riders faction running roughshod of the company.
The idea of McMahon, 56, having some kind of relationship with AEW — the current competition to his father Vince McMahon’s former company, WWE — began as rumors in June after famed wrestling podcast host and Ric Flair’s son-in-law Conrad Thompson said on the “Grilling JR” show that Shane McMahon had “reached out to wrestlers on the AEW roster to at least hypothetically discuss the idea” of working with the company.
Then in late July, a photo of Shane McMahon and AEW president Tony Khan leaked online. The two met in Arlington, Texas, where AEW and Ring of Honor running shows out of the city’s Esports Stadium.
Shane McMahon — who reportedly is not currently under contract with WWE — and Khan discussed the “possibilities moving forward,” according to Fightful at the time.
McMahon, who last appeared on WWE programming at WrestleMania 39 in 2023, quickly released a statement to “Busted Open Radio” about the meeting.
“Tony and I were connected through a mutual friend and we had a great meeting,” McMahon said in the statement. “We talked about many things, but mostly about our shared love for the business and the rewards and challenges of working with family. I congratulated him on the five-year anniversary of AEW and look forward to how he evolves the business moving forward.”
Khan, in August, shed more light on the meeting during an appearance on “The Dan LaBatard Show,” saying it took place at the airport and “somebody just walked in like they were on their phone’ and took the photo.
“It’s not a top secret thing,” Khan said. “I wanted to have a nice conversation with him. I’ve heard a lot of nice things about him. We have a bunch of mutual friends. We were both in Dallas, they said, ‘You guys should meet up,’ so we met up at the airport and it was a nice talk. I thought he’s a very respectful and respectable person, and somebody I really enjoyed talking to.”
Khan wasn’t the only AEW executive Shane McMahon has been photographed with. Executive vice presidents Matthew and Nicholas Jackson — also known as The Young Bucks — posted a photo of them and McMahon together at the airport in September with the caption: “Interesting flight today.”
But that may be as far as things have gotten for now after wrestling reporter Niko Exxtra posted earlier this month that AEW’s talks with Shane McMahon had “fizzled out.”
If what Moxley said holds true, the idea od Shane McMahon in AEW may never materialize.
