Heartwarming / Jon Moxley

• Any time Dean and his now-wife Renee Young^note now known in AEW by her birth name of Renee Paquette interact outside of kayfabe and even sometimes inside of it. They are absolutely adorable.
  • The bit on Total Divas where he reassures her how much he really likes her family and how cool he thinks her mom is stands out.
  • It's worth noting that unlike other interviewers, where he'll be distracted and look around absent-mindedly, Renee's the only one he'll look directly at and make eye-contact with.
  • On the last Talking Smack of 2016, Dean compliments Renee and defends her for slapping the Miz the previous week.
  • There was a sweet moment for them on the December 27, 2016 episode of SmackDown: The week prior, The Miz (who was in a feud with Dean at the time) acknowledged their relationship by making a crude comment about it to Renee, prompting Renee to slap Miz. For this episode, Miz excused Charly Caruso from an interview and said he'd only talk to Renee. After a sullen Renee came for the interview, Miz boasted about his 2016 and beating of Dean, before noticing that Renee began smiling, and turned around to find Dean standing right behind him disguised as a security guard. Cue Dean giving an ass-whooping to Miz.
• The night Roman Reigns won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the first time, you'd expect his cousins the Usos to be out there to celebrate. The third man to hit the ring for the celebration? Dean Ambrose, who tackles Roman and starts jumping up and down in absolute glee.
• At Wrestlemania 33 Axxess, a visually-impaired woman asks to touch his face. He bends down and places her hands so she can "see" him.
• His first world title win, which was to one of the loudest pops all year. Dean is a guy who went through absolute hell throughout most of his life. He was born in the gutter and had to claw his way out to make something of himself. And now, after years of hard work, he's finally at the top of the wrestling world. Dean, just like Daniel Bryan, finally got his happy ending, and the fans couldn't be happier for him.
  • In the Raw episode following his victory, Dean walks into the ring accompanied by the roar of the audience. Before he even says a word, the crowd spontaneously starts chanting "You deserve it!", acknowledging his skill and everything he's been through to get to this point. Dean is obviously touched and humbled by this.
• Upon his victory in the long-awaited Shield Triple Threat match at Battleground 2016, the SmackDown locker room emptied itself to run to the ring to congratulate and celebrate with him. The first man down to the ring was none other than John Cena, who greeted Ambrose with a hug. Then the rest of the locker room poured into the ring and hoisted him up on their shoulders — in a moment reminiscent of Bret Hart's win over Yokozuna for the World Heavyweight Championship back at WrestleMania X — as Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan led the crowd in a huge "YES!" chant.
• In the most recent Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast, Dean mentioning that he's used his WWE paychecks to make sure his mother can finally quit her factory job.
• Dean once told a story about helping a fan feeling better. A girl approached him to get his signature but was upset due to her dog feeling unwell. To make her feel better, Dean promised to get revenge on Bray Wyatt for his actions at Survivor Series. He remarked that how happy he is to make a difference in people's lives.
• Finally managing to bury the hatchet with Seth Rollins and proceeding to win the Raw Tag Team titles from Cesaro and Sheamus at Summerslam 2017 like the Shield of old.
• Despite the disastrous heel turn which directly led to his departure from WWE following Roman Reigns's cancer diagnosis coming out during one of Seth Rollins's promos before his Wrestlemania 35 matchup against Brock Lesnar and giving him encouragement was oddly sweet.
  Ambrose: I only got one thing to say to you.
  (Beat)
  Ambrose: Slay The Beast.
  (Dean smiles. Crowd cheers.)
• His off-air farewell speech on the Raw after Wrestlemania 35. While on-camera, the final shot of Dean Ambrose WWE fans saw was him being put through the announcer's table by Bobby Lashley, after the show, Seth and Roman asked Dean to come out to the ring. He obliged, and thanked the Brooklyn fans for being so supportive, as well as reminisced a little about his TLC debut, enjoying "Seth Rollins stomping Brock's big lunchbox head" and Roman "kicking the shit out of cancer". The Shield had one last fistbump before heading to the back.
• His electric debut at AEW's 2019 PPV Double or Nothing becomes this when listening to the AEW Unrestricted Podcast episode he was on. Before his debut, he was very worried that the crowd in attendance would not give him a positive reaction, or any reaction at all and would dismiss him as just 'that guy from WWE'. He Was Wrong. Getting the loudest pop of the night and arguably the year. His debut was unanimously critically acclaimed becoming AEW's first signature scene and their most iconic moment to date.
  AEW Crowd: MOXLEY! MOXLEY! MOXLEY!
  JR: Ohhh what a moment....
  (Moxley grins. Crowd cheers.)
• When you find out on Jon Moxley's tell-all interview with Chris Jericho on the Talk is Jericho podcast that the moment he finally put his foot down regarding Vince McMahon's eccentric ideas making him look like an idiot was when he abjectly refused to take a particular shot Vince wanted him to take at Roman Reigns's fight with leukemia during his Face–Heel Turn, pointing out that not only was he being asked to thoroughly disrespect his actual friend dealing with an actual life-altering illness, but that the line in question was so offensive (and this was after he was made to say that infamous line that Reigns's leukemia was him paying for his sins) that it would have destroyed every relationship WWE has with any cancer-related organizations as well as cost him and/or whoever came up with it his job.^* And given that this line would've been said in the midst of the "inoculation" segment and WWE already has a history of being crass with matters of life and death, it's not that hard to imagine. Even while explaining the story, he refuses to say the line publicly, with him and anyone he tells in confidence carrying it to the grave.
  • Also during the interview, Moxley mentioned how grateful he was to get to work with the Make-A-Wish program. He also mentioned his gratitude that he got to grow up into a man and meet his wife through WWE, going so far as to say that he and Renee have talked about being content to just "disappear" together for a while someday.
• A few days after Double or Nothing and the Talk is Jericho interview, Moxley was interviewed by Wade Keller of PW Torch on his podcast. At one point, when discussing if he or others were afraid of being fired for going off-script, he said the wrestlers weren't, but he knew that the writers and producers were. And he didn't want them to get fired because they need the money for whatever reason (they have a family or they need to pay their mortgage, etc.) and he didn't want that. Really speaks a lot about him as a person.
  • There is a brief moment where Keller switches the topic and asks if Moxley has binge-watched Netflix after he left WWE. Moxley, or rather, Jonathan Good, brings up about how he and Renee do watch TV together and talk (proof of this is in his appearances on her podcast, btw) and he even says she's his best friend. It really shows how much he loves her.
• While Moxley forcibly adopting Young Lion Shota Umino (or "Shooter" as Moxley calls him) is considered a great laugh, there's a real bond between the two men. While they're currently separated while Shota goes on a training tour of the UK, Moxley sent his young protégé a special gift for Christmas, for which the Young Lion was very grateful.
• As with the previous mention above on the AEW Dynamite episode after PPV Revolution the crowd chants 'You Deserve It!' once more as Moxley stands in the ring giving his first promo as All Elite Wrestling's top Champion.
  • Him winning the top AEW Championship off of Chris Jericho could be considered heartwarming in itself as well. Being as Moxley bet on himself leaving WWE and turning down a great deal of money and a guaranteed spot to wrestle on his own terms his way. This could have been considered a huge gamble or just plainly a stupid decision but Moxley successes since leaving WWE and his win in AEW proved that Moxley is the star he always believed he could be.
• Weeks before Fyter Fest and his long-awaited match with Brian Cage, Jon's wife Renee Paquette tested positive for COVID. Not only that, but Jon was also reported to have an interaction with someone who has the virus. The show was heavily promoted, so what does Jon do? What every man and husband would have done. He delayed his match with Cage for the safety of the people in AEW and chose to stay with Renee until she recovered.
• While his sudden interruption on Renee's podcast was hilarious, it becomes heartwarming following the reactions of Booker T and Xavier Woods, especially the former, since as a commentator he was always hyped for Ambrose every time he is in the ring. This just goes to show that despite how bad the company treated him and how much disdain Jon has for WWE, he still has friends there that are happy for him.

  Xavier: JON I MISS YOU!

  Booker T: (laughs).. cameo.. cameo.. that's what this show is all about.

• Jon Moxley paying tribute to his recently deceased friend, Danny Havoc, by walking to the ring wearing Havoc's shirt during his match with Brian Cage. Not to mention he also pays tribute to him in his Twitter account.
• After Cody's infamous chair shot via Shawn Spears at Fight for the Fallen 2019, Jon Moxley with Tony Khan ripped Spears to shreds backstage over his perceived carelessness towards Cody and publicly called him out over possibly injuring Rhodes. Shows how much he cares about Cody especially since he's known as kind of a quiet guy.
  • Think about it, Jon Moxley, one of the kings of the deathmatch, the guy who nearly killed Kenny Omega in a freaking unsanctioned match, is concerned for Cody over a careless chair shot. This can be a Heartwarming in Hindsight as it seems that despite his death matches, he does them carefully with concern for his opponent's health and not just like a mindless psychopath.
    Cody: I hadn't seen that side of Moxley, somedays he says one half word to you and other days he's talking your ear off. He's such a unique personality. It was cool to see that because he cared about my health.
• Following an epic match against Yuji Nagata in the May 12th, 2021 episode of Dynamite, in which Moxley successfully defended his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, both men kneel down and bow to each other in respect.
• Similarly, at the start of his match against Satoshi Kojima at All Out 2021 Moxley slapped away Kojima's offered handshake and flipped him off- but after the brutal strong-style slugfest ended with Moxley pinning Kojima after two Paradigm Shifts, he knelt beside his opponent's prone body and bowed to him as well.
• After losing the AEW World Championship to MJF at Full Gear 2022 due to William Regal's betrayal, the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club enter the ring to console Mox. The fans, who somewhat booed him over Max during the match, return to cheering for him, thanking him for the match and putting over a young, up and rising star. Even more meaningful if one remembers that Moxley was supposed to be on vacation following his loss at All-Out a few months prior but had to change his plans due to the whole CM Punk/Elite altercation.
• Moxley giving up and losing the match against his biggest rivals and arch-enemies Kenny Omega and 'Hangman' Adam Page to save Wheeler Yuta (who was being hanged) in Blood and Guts 2023

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