Moxley Having Fun in AEW, Talks Revolution PPV Title Shot Against Jericho
Jon Moxley spoke with Sporting News for a new interview promoting his match with Chris Jericho at AEW Revolution tomorrow. You can check out the highlights below:
On when the last time he had as much fun as he’s having in AEW was: “Not for the last few years. I’m not trying to talk s**t about anybody or anything like that. But you get into like just making towns and saving money. You work years and years and years to go what you think is the top and then you get to the top and you’re like ‘This is what over the top is?’ Then you’re like, ‘OK, I guess this is it.’ I wasn’t really happy being scripted or being told what to do or who I am. They always used to say in WWE, ‘Oh, you’re your own brand’ in meetings and stuff. They say it all the time. I’m like, ‘That’s horses**t. I’m not my own brand at all.’ What if my brand has middle fingers, blood and whiskey? No, that’s not WWE’s brand. I’m whatever fits into your corporate mold, which isn’t a bad thing. I mean, they’re a publicly-traded company. I just really wasn’t happy under all those circumstances. I had a really good run there and did really well. I wouldn’t trade all the things I got from there, most importantly, my wife. I was able to make a s**t ton of money there and get a little bit of a nest egg for myself.
“Now I can focus on the reason I started doing this in the first place, which is I like it. I love it. I enjoy it. I want to be a part of it. I want to be on the show. I want to be on the card. Throw me in their third match. I just enjoy the whole process of like, ‘Oh, I got a match today. Let’s think about what I’m going to do and go roll over the building and get warmed up, get ready to go out there, walk through the crowd, get in the ring, come back bleeding, sweating, whatever. That’s the part of this that keeps me coming back. That’s what I need in my life. It’s fun to just focus on the fun part of wrestling. Nowadays, like, I can try by the idea. I feel like for the last few years, if you have an idea, no matter how good it is, right, you pitch it to a million different people and it probably won’t happen no matter how hard you push it. Even if it does, by the time it is rammed through the system and 10 different fingerprints on it and it is not even really your idea anymore. Then it doesn’t even look anything remotely like your idea, and now you’re like,’ How did we even get here?’ I’m totally confused. Now, when I have an idea and sucks, you’re like, ‘Oh, this suck. Who cares? Let’s try again. Roll with the punches.’ I’m very relaxed and in control of what I’m doing.”
On his match with Minoru Suzuki in NJPW: “I was over the moon, excited for it. lt all just kind of worked out perfectly. A storyline got screwed up a little bit because of weather problems. I think it all worked out good at that moment at the Tokyo Dome, where he came out, and the crowd was all singing his songs. 50,000 people or how ever many were at the Tokyo Dome. You talk WrestleMania moments, that was a Wrestle Kingdom moment. To be a part of that was so cool, and I’ve watched him for so many years. I’ve been such a fan of his. I used to study some of these matches like when I was like in CZW. We’re different but so similar. I never thought I’d get a chance to wrestle him. If I could pick one dream opponent that could be possible it was him. I think everybody wanted to see the match. It’s one of those matchups, and just like we got to put that together and see what happens. So I helped facilitate it. Rather than I put somebody’s name on my mouth and start calling him out, I was like onboard for that. So I willed it into existence. I think it was supposed to happen on that night in Osaka, Japan. It was just wild man. I felt like we were fist fighting for a week where we had two tag team matches, where we took over the match. Then a week later, we just picked it up again. It’s like surfing in a lightning storm in shark-infested waters is what wrestling Minoru Suzuki for 15-20 minutes is like.”
On his match with Chris Jericho at Revolution: “It’s pretty big. Our pay-per-views are no joke. Those cards are stacked. If you’re going to be headlining an AEW show like that’s a hell of a card to be the last match on, especially this one. Our names are the marquee names. It’s going to have a big fight feel. It’s very cool. I think me and him are both similar in the sense that we’re both in the eight to 10 top guys in AEW. If we wanted to be in WWE right now, we could be. But we’re actively choosing to do something else.”
On facing Jericho: “Chris was the first-ever undisputed champion. This is a guy I used to watch on TV on Nitro and Raw. (It) would’ve been really easy for him to just be a rock star and count his money and just be Chris Jericho and Y2J. He loves to do this. He wants new challenges and loves pushing himself. He really has a drive. I think his drive is to be the greatest of all time. I remember him telling me that when we were talking about ideas we had for an angle that we didn’t even end up doing because plans changed. He was gone for a while, and he’s like yeah, ‘I’m gonna call myself the greatest of all time’ because The Rock and Stone Cold (Steve Austin) and they hadn’t been here how ever long. I’ve been here for longer been doing it at a higher level for longer (then) all these guys.’ I started thinking back then, and this is like 2015, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Like this is one of the greatest of all time. He’s done so much else since then that it’s insane. I think his drive is to be in that top echelon of the greatest of all time. He’s definitely put himself in the conversation. It is rare that you get two guys with so much momentum. Chris Jericho is hotter than he’s arguably ever been in his career, and that’s really saying something. I got a whole hell of a lot of momentum behind me. I haven’t got beat in AEW yet. We both have so much momentum right now that I don’t think people can picture either one of us losing, but it’s one of those things where somebody’s 0 has got to go.”
