Shayna Baszler Pushes Back on Critics After Jon Moxley BJJ Tap-Out Video Goes Viral

A video of AEW star Jon Moxley tapping out during a Brazilian jiu-jitsu match has gone viral, drawing a wave of online criticism from fans who saw it as undermining his hard-edged, no-nonsense wrestling persona. But Shayna Baszler, herself a legitimate grappling competitor with a background in MMA, has stepped up to defend Moxley, arguing that the people piling on are fundamentally missing the point.

The clip spread quickly across social media, with detractors leaning into the irony of a performer known for projecting toughness submitting on the mat in a real combat-sports setting. It’s the kind of criticism that tends to flatten the line between a pro wrestling character and the actual human being portraying it — a conflation that anyone with genuine combat sports experience would recognize as misguided.

That’s essentially where Baszler landed. She pushed back on the criticism, making clear that tapping in a BJJ training or competition context is not some embarrassing failure but a normal, even expected, part of the grappling process. For practitioners of submission grappling, tapping is how you survive a bad position and keep training another day — it’s a sign of participation, not weakness.

Baszler’s credibility here is real. She competed professionally in MMA before transitioning to pro wrestling full-time, and legitimate grappling has always been central to her identity both in and out of the ring. Her defense of Moxley carries the weight of someone who actually understands what they’re talking about.

Moxley, currently one of AEW’s most prominent figures, has not publicly addressed the video himself.