Jon Moxley recently spoke with The Messenger for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the AEW star and Blackpool Combat Club member reflected on jumping ship from WWE to AEW, suffering a concussion and AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On jumping ship from WWE to AEW: “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. 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. 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.”
On suffering a concussion at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam: "I just kept getting progressively more lost and couldn’t figure out where the f— I was. Then I had this moment of clarity, ‘Oh, I’m f—ed up. I gotta get the f— out of here.’"
On how there needs to be better protocols put in place to protect the wrestlers from injuries like concussions: "In pro wrestling, it’s a really touchy subject. Somebody’s gotta f—ing bring it up. Pro wrestling is such a strange thing. In football, if a guy goes down and he doesn’t go back to the huddle, you know he’s f—ed up. In pro wrestling, a lot of times it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake. Maybe a really experienced wrestler and a really experienced doctor, who are trained to see signs of that sh–, are watching it on a separate feed. Even if they have a doctor close to ringside, what if the guy f—ing spills outside the ring? He doesn’t see that. The doctor and wrestler are completely untethered to the creative portion of it. They have no idea nor any interest in what the story is, who wins, who loses or how long it’s supposed to go. If a guy f—ing spins around or something and the doctor goes, ‘Is he OK?’ The wrestler can tell him, That’s just a pro wrestling thing. Don’t worry.’"
On how there needs to be a doctor present at all times ready to put a stop to a match once a wrestler shows any signs of having a concussion: "As soon as the doctor sees a sign of somebody being concussed, he just hits the f—ing 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."
Check out the complete interview at TheMessenger.com.
