It was reported last Friday here on eWn that Jon Moxley had signed a new five-year contract extension with All Elite Wrestling.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, the AEW World Champion commented on his new deal with AEW, being in a spot between the veterans and the newer generation, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On signing his five-year deal with AEW: “I don’t plan on going anywhere else. It’s the best job in the world, and I’m very lucky to have it. In AEW, all I worry about is wrestling. That’s my focus, and that’s a joy. I love storytelling, I love promos, I love wrestling. I love coming up with ideas for other people, I love learning. For me, it’s a perfect fit.”
On being in a spot between the veterans and the newer generation: “I’m a good gap between the old generation and the new generation. I come from the Les Thatcher system, so I understand paying your dues and respecting veterans. I’m also old enough to know what it was like to go to the post office and send stacks of my videotapes—ones I had to make—to promoters. I was also there for the advent of YouTube, and I was one of the first indie wrestlers to gain a buzz doing that. My friend had a video camera and a laptop, so I would cut promos every week on my indie shows and used YouTube to my advantage.
“When I started in 2004, there was WWE and some other indies, but there wasn’t much money in them. There was a big gap in between when you first started and actually having any success in the business. Now there are so many tools and so many promotions, and such a great fan base, and wrestling has evolved so much. It’s a great thing for the fans and the wrestlers. No one is shoving a script in your face telling you what you have to say. I wish I had this opportunity in AEW when I was 25. I hope the young people at AEW understand how cool this place is.”
On the plans to take time off before All Out happened: “I was going to be gone and off TV for six weeks. It wasn’t that I needed a vacation. I was feeling good and feeling hot, but it had to do with what we were going to do for a story. Going into All Out, I was thinking, ‘After I get through this match, that’s it for a while.’ I wrestled the match, and we kicked each other’s ass. I was happy, Chicago was happy, everybody was happy. I went outside to smoke a cigarette with Eddie [Kingston] in celebration. That vacation lasted about 30 minutes. By the time I went to bed that night, I was pretty sure we were going to pretend that vacation was never going to happen. But it’s all good; you just roll with the punches.”
On planning to stay involved with the indy scene: “If there’s something I want to be part of, I’ll find a way to make it happen. That’s tougher now—I have my family, AEW and New Japan. But I love supporting independent wrestling. So you never know when or where I might show up.”
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