Jonathan David Good is an American professional wrestler and actor. The first wrestler to win a world title in WWE, AEW, and NJPW The first wrestler to hold titles in AEW and NJPW simultaneously. The first wrestler to hold both IWGP and WWE United States Championships.
Good made his professional wrestling debut in 2004, and competed as Jon Moxley in several independent promotions such as Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), Full Impact Pro (FIP), Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), and Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA). Upon signing with WWE in 2011, he was renamed Dean Ambrose and began competing in the company’s developmental territories of Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) and NXT, before joining the main roster in November 2012 as a member of The Shield alongside Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. Ambrose won the WWE United States Championship, his first championship in WWE, in May 2013; his 351-day reign became the longest United States Championship reign since the title came under WWE’s ownership (breaking the record previously held by Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP)). After widespread success, The Shield split in June 2014. Ambrose went on to win the WWE Championship once, the WWE Intercontinental Championship three times, and the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship twice (both times with Rollins), which made him WWE’s 27th Triple Crown Champion and 16th Grand Slam Champion. He also won the Money in the Bank ladder match in 2016.
Upon leaving WWE after his contract expired in April 2019, Good reverted to his Jon Moxley character and made his surprise debut the following month at Double or Nothing, AEW’s inaugural event. He started wrestling for NJPW in June 2019 and won the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship in his first NJPW match, becoming the only person to have held the United States Championships in both WWE and NJPW. He would briefly vacate the championship but quickly won it back a second time, subsequently setting a record for the longest reign in the championship’s history. He also won the AEW World Championship in February of that year, making him the first person to hold championships in AEW and NJPW simultaneously. He won the AEW World Championship twice more in 2022, setting records for the most world championship wins and longest cumulative reigns in AEW history. He would also win the AEW International Championship in September 2023, making him the company’s only wrestler to hold both the world championship and a secondary championship. He has headlined 11 AEW pay-per-view events, the most in the company’s history. He has held 14 total championships (including five world championships and three United States championships) between WWE, AEW, and NJPW.
Noted for his onscreen character’s unhinged and intense nature, Good is regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world and has been recognized for his popularity with audiences. He won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated award for Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 2014, 2015, and 2022, and was named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2019. He was also ranked first on the 2020 edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated‘s list of the top 500 wrestlers in the world. He has sporadically ventured into acting, most notably starring in the films 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown (2015) and Cagefighter:Worlds Collide (2020).
THE MAN
Jonathan David Good was born in Cincinnati on December 7, 1985. He grew up in Cincinnati’s East End, an area he later described as so deprived that shoplifting food and other essentials was a daily occurrence for everybody he knew. An avid fan of professional wrestling who idolized Bret Hart, he used wrestling as an escape from his rough upbringing by watching videos and reading stories about wrestling’s earlier days. He attended Amelia High School in nearby Batavia, but dropped out one year after beginning to train as a wrestler. He supported himself by working minimum-wage jobs in factories, restaurants, and warehouses, but was constantly getting fired because he would skip work if he was booked to wrestle a match that clashed with his job; however, he continued to do so because he knew he “could always find another minimum-wage job”. He often used drugs such as cocaine as a teenager, during which time he was also arrested multiple times for shoplifting. He has said that he would have most likely become a forest firefighter if he did not pursue wrestling.
In 2013, Good began dating Canadian backstage interviewer Renee Paquette. The two lived near Las Vegas, where they were married in an impromptu ceremony at their home in the early hours of April 9, 2017. Their daughter, Nora, was born on June 13, 2021. A few months later, they settled in his hometown of Cincinnati to be closer to both his family and Paquette’s family in her hometown of Toronto.
THE LEGEND
The legend of Jon Moxley begun back in 2005 in Heartland Wrestling Association.
3X HWA Heavyweight Champion
Moxley won the HWA Tag Team Championship twice, with Jimmy Turner and Ric Byrne respectively. He captured the HWA Heavyweight Championship twice in 2006 by defeating Pepper Parks on both occasions but lost the title to Chad Collyer and Brian Jennings respectively. From mid-2007 to early 2010, Moxley continued to work in the tag team division and held the HWA tag titles once with his trainer Cody Hawk and twice with King Vu. He won the HWA Heavyweight Championship for the third time from Aaron Williams in January 2010, before losing it to Gerome Phillips six months later.
2X CZW World Heavyweight Champion & 1X FIP World Heavyweight Champion
At Full Impact Pro’s (FIP) Southern Stampede event on April 17, 2010, Moxley defeated Roderick Strong to win the vacant FIP World Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for 441 days before relinquishing it in July 2011, due to his signing with WWE. Moxley also won Combat Zone Wrestling’s CZW World Heavyweight Championship twice in 2010 by defeating B-Boy and Nick Gage, respectively.
1x WWE World Heavyweight Champion
Good signed a developmental deal with WWE in April 2011 and joined its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the name Dean Ambrose. Prior to his signing, Good wrestled three try-out matches for WWE in 2006 and 2007 and jobbed alongside Dick Rick against The Big Show in a handicap match on Heat in January 2006.
On November 18, 2012, Dean Ambrose made his WWE main roster debut at the Survivor Series pay-per-view event alongside Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, as they delivered a triple powerbomb through an announce table to Ryback during the triple threat main event for the WWE Championship, allowing CM Punk to pin John Cena and retain the title. The trio declared themselves The Shield, vowed to rally against “injustice”, and denied working for Punk; however, they routinely emerged from the crowd to attack Punk’s opponents, including Ryback and the WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane), thus establishing themselves as villains.
At Extreme Rules, Ambrose won the United States Championship by defeating Kofi Kingston. He would successfully defend the title in the following weeks with the help of Reigns and Rollins. Ambrose made his first pay-per-view defense of the United States Championship at Payback, where he defeated Kane by countout. Ambrose continued to retain his United States Championship against Rob Van Dam at SummerSlam, Dolph Ziggler at Night of Champions, and Big E at Hell in a Cell.
On April 28, Ambrose surpassed MVP as the longest-reigning United States Champion under the WWE banner. Triple H forced Ambrose to defend his United States Championship in a 20-man battle royal, which saw Ambrose surviving until the final two before ultimately being eliminated by Sheamus, thus ending his title reign at 351 days.
In December, Ambrose won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time after defeating Kevin Owens at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. He successfully defended the title against Owens and Ziggler multiple times between December and January 2016. Ambrose competed in the 2016 Royal Rumble match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which he lost after being lastly eliminated by eventual winner Triple H. Ambrose would later lose the Intercontinental Championship back to Owens in a five-way match on the February 15 episode of Raw, after Owens pinned Tyler Breeze.
In May, Ambrose qualified for the 2016 Money in the Bank ladder match, which he would win. Later that same night, he would cash in his Money in the Bank contract and defeat Rollins to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Ambrose made his first title defense against Rollins on the July 18 episode of Raw, which ended in a draw after a double pinfall. The following night at the 2016 WWE draft, Ambrose was drafted to the SmackDown brand, being the brand’s first draft pick and bringing the WWE Championship with him; that same night, he pinned Rollins to retain the championship. At Battleground, Ambrose retained his title against Reigns and Rollins after pinning Reigns. Ambrose then successfully defended the renamed “WWE World Championship” against Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam in August. At Backlash on September 11, he lost the title to AJ Styles after Styles performed a low blow and Styles Clash while the referee was incapacitated.
on August 20, Ambrose and Rollins defeated Cesaro and Sheamus to win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship, making Ambrose both a Triple Crown and Grand Slam champion in the process. Ambrose and Rollins successfully defended the titles against Cesaro and Sheamus at No Mercy, after Ambrose pinned Sheamus.
On the October 22 episode of Raw, after Reigns announced the return of his real-life leukemia and relinquished the Universal Championship, Ambrose and Rollins defeated Ziggler and McIntyre to capture the Raw Tag Team Championship for the second time. However, Ambrose immediately attacked Rollins after the match, turning heel for the first time since 2014.
3x AEW World Champion
On May 1, Good—having reverted to his former Jon Moxley gimmick and name—posted a video on his Twitter account to promote the gimmick’s return, which showed him breaking out of a prison. The video was created by wrestler-turned-filmmaker Nick Mondo. On May 25, Moxley made his unannounced debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) during Double or Nothing, the company’s inaugural event, attacking Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, and the referee after Jericho and Omega’s main event match, thus establishing himself as an antihero character.
Moxley faced Jericho for the AEW World Championship at Revolution on February 29, where he won the championship, becoming the first person to hold titles in AEW and NJPW simultaneously. Moxley made his first defense of the championship on the April 15 episode of Dynamite, defeating Jake Hager in an Empty Arena No Holds Barred match. Moxley then made further successful title defenses against Mr. Brodie Lee at Double or Nothing on May 23, Brian Cage at Fight for the Fallen on July 15, and Darby Allin on the August 5 episode of Dynamite. Moxley then moved onto a feud with MJF, who began a Presidential-style campaign against Moxley’s championship reign and decreed that fans deserved a better champion. The two faced at All Out on September 5, where Moxley emerged victorious.
He defended the championship against Eddie Kingston on the September 23 episode of Dynamite, which he won by making Kingston pass out to a chokehold. After retaining the championship against Lance Archer on the October 14 episode of Dynamite, Moxley was attacked by Kingston, who protested that Moxley had never made him submit. At Full Gear on November 7, Moxley defeated Kingston in an “I quit” match to retain the championship. Following this, Moxley rekindled his feud with Kenny Omega. At Winter Is Coming on December 2, Moxley lost the championship to Omega, thus ending his record-setting reign at 277 days, and giving Moxley his first singles loss in AEW.
On the June 3 episode of Rampage, AEW World Champion CM Punk announced he would not be able to defend his championship against scheduled challenger Hiroshi Tanahashi on June 26 at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door due to injury. On the June 8 episode of Dynamite, Moxley defeated Kyle O’Reilly, the winner of a Casino Battle Royale in the show’s opener, to earn the chance to face for the interim championship at the event. On June 12 at New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall event, Tanahashi defeated Hirooki Goto to be confirmed as Moxley’s opponent at Forbidden Door. At the event, Moxley defeated Tanahashi to win the interim AEW World Championship.
A match to determine the undisputed AEW World Champion was scheduled at All Out after the return of Punk, however, due to heated confrontations between the two, it was announced that the match would instead take place on the August 24 episode of Dynamite, in which Moxley quickly defeated Punk to win his record-setting second AEW World Championship, becoming the undisputed AEW World Champion in the process. The following week on Dynamite, Moxley laid out an open challenge for anyone to face him at All Out, which was accepted by Punk. At All Out on September 4, Moxley was defeated by Punk, losing the undisputed championship and ending his reign at 11 days.
Shortly following the event, Punk was suspended by AEW after getting into a legitimate backstage altercation with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. As a result, the AEW World Championship was vacated, and Moxley was then inserted into a tournament to crown a new champion. At Grand Slam on September 21, Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson in the tournament final to win the vacant title and become the first ever three-time AEW World Champion.
Moxley defeated Orange Cassidy to win the AEW International Championship. However, he lost the title 17 days later to Rey Fénix at Dynamite: Grand Slam on September 20. During this match, he suffered a concussion that led to the match’s end being changed to have Fénix win instead.
1x IWGP World Heavyweight Champion
After weeks of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) airing videos of a mystery man targeting IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Juice Robinson, Moxley was revealed as the culprit in May 2019, challenging Robinson for a title match at the final night of the Best of the Super Juniors 26 tournament on June 5. At the event, he defeated Robinson in his NJPW in-ring debut to win the championship, making him the first wrestler to hold both IWGP and WWE United States Championships.
On October 13, after he was unable to defend the United States Heavyweight Championship in a scheduled match against Robinson due to travel issues stemming from Typhoon Hagibis, Moxley agreed to vacate the championship.
On December 9, Moxley returned and interrupted Archer after his final match in the 2019 World Tag League tournament, attacking both Archer and Minoru Suzuki before challenging the former to a Texas Deathmatch for the United States Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020. During the first night of the event, he defeated Archer by knockout to capture the championship for the second time, and subsequently successfully retained the championship against Robinson the following night, ending their long-running feud.
Moxley successfully defended the championship against Suzuki at The New Beginning in Osaka in February. on February 26, Moxley defeated Kenta to retain the championship. Through NJPW’s partnership with AEW, Moxley successfully defended the United States Heavyweight Championship against Yuji Nagata on the May 12 episode of AEW’s television show Dynamite, marking the first time a NJPW championship was defended at an AEW event.
At AEW’s Fyter Fest event on July 14, Moxley again successfully defended the title against Karl Anderson. However, on the second night of Fyter Fest the following week, Moxley lost the championship to Lance Archer in a Texas Deathmatch, ending his record-breaking reign at 564 days with five successful defenses.
On January 13 at Battle in the Valley, Moxley defeated Shingo Takagi in no disqualification match. After the match, Moxley challenged IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito. The match was later made official for Windy City Riot. At the event, Moxley defeated Naito to win his first IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and becoming the first wrestler to win a world title in WWE, AEW, and NJPW.
1X GCW World Champion
At GCW’s The Art of War Games pay-per-view in September 2021, Moxley defeated Matt Cardona as a surprise opponent to win the GCW World Championship. On January 23, 2022, Moxley retained the GCW World Championship against Homicide at The World on GCW event. At GCW’s Fight Club event on October 8, Moxley lost the GCW World Championship to Nick Gage in a title vs. career match, ending his reign at 399 days.
He is also a 1x Mad-Pro Heavyweight Champion and 1x MPW Tag Team Champion with Dustin rayz, A 2x Insanity Pro World Heavyweight Champion and 1x IPW Mid-American Champion.
A legend in the making he is set to be a professional wrestling hall of famer.
