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AEW star Jon Moxley opened up about the demons that led him to step away from the ring in late 2021 and enter rehab.
The former AEW World Champion entered a rehabilitation program in October 2021 and was out of action until his return in January 2022. Upon his return, he cut a passionate promo on AEW Dynamite and won his first match back against Ethan Page.
Moxley hasn't looked back since, going on one of the best runs of his career. He could potentially become the Interim AEW World Champion if he defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view on June 26.
So what led Jon Moxley to enter rehab? Speaking with his wife Renee Paquette on her podcast The Sessions, the former WWE Champion described it as a 'cycle of hell' that could potentially kill someone:
"It's this never-ending cycle of hell. There were months of absolute hell. It wasn't, 'I'm all stressed out and have problems.' It wasn't, 'I need to go to rehab and talk about my feelings.' It was, 'I'm going to die.' It can happen to anybody." (H/T: Fightful)
Moxley's fear of dying due to alcohol wasn't just surface level. He explained that trying to cut alcohol out of someone dependent on it can lead to a cardiac arrest:
"At some point, it was the first time I tried to stop and I was experiencing for the first time, at least that I remember, alcohol withdrawal, which is as bad as withdrawal from just about anything. It's dangerous, and a lot more dangerous in a lot of ways. First thing they told me was, 'Just quitting drinking, cold turkey at a certain threshold,' which I was at, it's the worst thing you can do. It's the most dangerous thing you can do. You can go into cardiac arrest and die. What's really common is you can have seizures. Something really bad can happen from that, that's what happened to [former WWE star Big] Cass, I was terrified of that for the longest time." (H/T: Fightful)
Jon Moxley was 'paranoid' about people thinking he was on drugs due to alcohol withdrawal
One major side effect of cutting alcohol entirely out of the system is that the body doesn't know how to handle itself, especially in severe cases of alcohol addiction.
It happened to Jon Moxley on several occasions when he experienced unbearable shakes. The former AEW World Champion explained that his shakes got so bad that he was paranoid people would think he had a drug problem:
"Your breathing is messed up, you're twitchy. They call it the shakes because you're literally shaking. There were times when I'd be at TV and I feel like, 'People are going to think that I'm on drugs,' because I'm sober. I'd be talking to people and I'd have a little shot or flex just to mellow out because I'd be like, 'People are going to think I'm on crack right now.' I was leveling myself out for the longest time. That gets really tiring." (H/T: Fightful)
If Jon Moxley wins the Interim AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door, it'll be the ultimate reward for all the trials and tribulations he has been through over the past year. Will he walk away with the gold? Tune in on June 26 to find out!
