How Jon Moxley Became The Best Wrestler In The World

A classic - genuine, match of the year, legendary, career-defining, pick your synonym for f*cking awesome, classic - with Tomohiro Ishii served as an overdue announcement that he was for real. A rousing post-match promo literally declared as much; "Jon Moxley is gonna win the G1" was his defiant call-to-arms before the heartfelt (and p*ss funny) press conference saw him fret what Renee Young might say about all the chaos.

He jokingly blamed Ishii for it all, but the eyes and ears of the watching world knew who was most responsible not just for such a remarkable match but a total and utter reinvention from the goober in the gas mask in WWE.

Jon Moxley isn't just best wrestler in the world because he's raising screams and smiles from crowds across two sides of an ocean, or because he's grasping more Dave Meltzer stars than almost every Dean Ambrose loyalist optimistically could have assumed, or because Seth Rollins is worried about having his dinner taken, or because he's become the one expected to extract the magic from Kenny Omega at All Elite Wrestling's All Out in an unthinkable role reversal from 12 months ago.

He's the best wrestler in the world because he's doing all of those things and then some. 'Mox' isn't finished, and even if the G1 win doesn't come, it's become more fun to sit back and watch him take the next steps, rather than predict what they might actually be.