To say that the All Elite Wrestling promotion takes heavy influence from video games would be an understatement. AEW is nerdy all the way through, and its audience loves it and embraces it. Even when something AEW does isn’t explicitly nerdy, fans’ imaginations will find something that could be video game or comic-related and will run with it. The latest example is a recent injury to AEW superstar Jon Moxley, or as fans are now calling him, Punished Jon Moxley.
The “Punished” label stems from a classic Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain trailer that puts the label on Venom Snake, also known as Big Boss. “Punished” reads the text in the trailer, while several other prompts read, “A Fallen Legend,” “Burning with Revenge,” and “Men become Demons.” Punished Snake is, of course, a rather angry man best known for his iconic eyepatch. The eyepatch being the connecting idea between Snake and Jon Moxley.
During Wednesday evening’s AEW Bash at the Beach event, Moxley was hurt badly. The AEW champion Chris Jericho took a spike from his spiked leather jacket and stabbed Jon Mosley in the eye with it while his cronies held Moxley in-place. Moxley had just one the opportunity for a match where the winner would get to challenge the Jericho for the championship. Later in the evening, his upcoming opponent made a statement claiming that if Moxley was too hurt, he’d take the championship opportunity via forfeit. That’s where Punished Jon Moxley comes into play.
The cameras then jumped to the back of an ambulance where Jon Moxley was being evaluated, in preparation to go to the hospital. Instead, Jon Moxley burst out of the ambulance wearing an eyepatch and rushed back to the set. “I don’t care if I got one eye, no eyes, I don’t care if I’m half dead. I will be there next week. I will kick your a**. ‘Cause that title shot belongs to me.” Moxley, hungry for vengeance and wearing an eyepatch, became Punished Moxley. Big Boss would be proud.
While AEW made no overt reference to Metal Gear or Snake through Jon Moxley’s performance during Bash at the Beach, fans are still having fun with the idea. While there may be no overt references, it’s still possible, if not likely, that AEW knew exactly what it was doing. Many of AEW’s biggest starts are video game fans. The company routinely has wrestlers dress up in costume, like when Kenny Omega dressed up as Sans from Undertale or Shanna’s Dragon Ball Z outfit. Let’s see if Punished Jon Moxley becomes a more overt reference in AEW during the weeks to come.
