Jon Moxley would have wrestled under a mask in Mexico rather than re-sign with WWE.
Before becoming All Elite in 2019, Moxley was wrestling as Dean Ambrose in WWE. He had joined the company in 2011 and quickly came to prominence when he joined Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in The Shield the following year.
Moxley quickly gained a following for his “lunatic fringe” character and was able to work his way to the top of the company when he cashed in his Money In The Bank contract on Rollins in 2016.
Despite his success there, Moxley has been vocal about having become disillusioned with the company and needing a change.
During a new interview with The Messenger, the former AEW World Champion says his departure in 2019 was inevitable and that if AEW hadn’t been an option, he would have found somewhere else to “have fun again.”
“The timing of it was crazy. I was gone one way or another. I was going to give it all up. I didn’t give a f— if I was never on TV again. I’d go wrestle in a f—ing mask in Mexico in a parking lot if it means having fun again.”
Echoing the promo video he broadcast on his release from WWE, Moxley says the move felt like he was getting out of prison.
“I hate speaking in the third person because it feels so f—ing pretentious, but speaking from a character standpoint, it just makes it easier. But it was like as Jon Moxley was getting his release date from jail and walking into the world again, it just happened to be when AEW was starting.”
Moxley re-iterated that if there was no AEW, he would still be wrestling elsewhere, likely in more independent promotions and in Japan.
“If there was no AEW, I think I’d be doing the exact same thing, just in a bunch of other places.”
“You’d probably see me in f—in’ Japan or Revolver, places like that. It probably wouldn’t be that much different.”
Jon Moxley wants better protection for AEW wrestlers
Recently, Moxley suffered a concussion during an International Championship match that led to him calling an audible and losing the title to Rey Fenix. He has since disclosed that the injury happened in the first 30 seconds of the match, but it went on for some time afterward.
The experience has led him to the realisation that there should be more done to spot concussions when they happen, and he’s suggested a system that would see a wrestler and doctor monitor each bout from ringside looking for the signs. If symptoms were spotted, Moxley believes they should call the match immediately.
“As soon as the doctor sees a sign of somebody being concussed, he just hits the f*ckng red button. Boom, this is over. No matter how much time is left. No matter if it’s on live TV. It’s just over, and you figure it out from there.”
Moxley made his return on the October 21st edition of AEW Collision, coming to the aid of Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and FTR.
In a new interview, Jon Moxley commented on his unpredictable style in AEW.