Still Real To Us interviewed AEW star Jon Moxley at last weekend’s New York Comic-Con. Moxley discussed having more creative freedom in AEW than he did in WWE and a lot more. Below are some highlights.
Moxley on not being told “no” once since he left WWE:
“I think since I’ve left WWE–I don’t think I’ve been told ‘no’ once. Usually, they say, ‘Do whatever you want to do.’ For instance, with Joey Janela at Fyter Fest. At first, I was like, ‘Okay, cool. We’ll do some nutty stuff.’ I thought we would be somewhere in the middle of the card. Then I realized, we were going to be in the main event.”
Moxley on how he had to lie to the fans with his promos in WWE:
“I had to do that for years, when I had to do these stupid scripts. I’d have to say stuff like, ‘I’m going to eviscerate your skull at Hell In A Cell!’ It’s like, ‘No, I’m not. I know I’m not. I know that there’s not going to be any blood. I’m lying, I’m lying to the fans, I’m selling this violence that’s just not going to happen.’”
Jon Moxley on how AEW doesn’t need writers or producers:
“We don’t need writers or producers, or anything like that. We know what we are doing. You’ve got myself, Jericho, Kenny, Cody, The Bucks, PAC, and Spears. We’re all at the top. If we wanted to be in WWE right now, we could, and make huge money. Any one of us. We’re all actively choosing to do this, instead.”
Moxley on being given creative freedom for his match with Joey Janela at AEW Fyter Fest:
“I was told, ‘Do whatever you want to do.’ I said, ‘We need thumbtacks, and barbed wire. That’s all. PG-13. Not the death match.’ And [AEW President Tony Khan] was like, ‘Cool. Sure.’ But, if I would have been like, ‘I also want a flaming brick, and I want a monster truck that shoots missiles.’ Basically, anything that I would have asked for—save for a chainsaw—they would have probably given it to me.
Jon Moxley on having to withdraw from his match at All Out in Chicago:
“When I didn’t make it to the fight in Chicago; where I come from, if you don’t show up to the fight, you forfeit the ability to talk s***. Alright, so I gotta sit back and let everybody run their mouths. Call me damaged goods. Say whatever you want about me not being at All Out. Okay, that is until I see you again. I’m going to slap you in your f***ing mouth, and then I’m going to drill your head into a table. I’m going to leave you laying, and I’m going to put you in a hospital. Then, maybe I’ll talk a little crap about you now, and you’ll see how it feels.”
His thoughts oN AEW:
“Everything so far is great. It’s almost too good to be true. But, it’s so simple. We’ve got, no pun intended, some of the most elite wrestlers in the world. All guys who are veterans, in their primes with huge fanbases. They understand their fanbases. We know whats good, and whats not.”
On how AEW identifies with the lapsed fan:
“We agree with all of these lapsed fans. I was kind of a lapsed fan, myself. I didn’t even like wrestling anymore, and I was doing it. We’re stepping out on our own, to give you what you want. Hopefully, we know.”
