Jon Moxley talks about the authenticity of AEW and what pro-wrestling means to him in 2020
Jon Moxley's stock has skyrocketed since he joined AEW and it continues to do so thanks to the brilliant storytelling and some fabulous matches along the way. One such match to look forward to is Jon Moxley's upcoming match at Full Gear with Eddie Kingston.
Speaking to Sporting News, Jon Moxley discussed the aforementioned feud and how there is a lot of authenticity in his matchup against Eddie Kingston. This further prompted him to discuss about how AEW has allowed him to portray his real side.
"For me, it's very easy, and Eddie would be the same way. Because guys like me and him, we don't put on the pro wrestling uniform in the morning and take it off at night. What you see on TV is basically who me and him are in real life. Generally, I just talk the way I talk in real life, I act the way I act in real life, I take every situation as if it was real, and how I would really act. It's pretty easy for me. Other people have real, actual characters, getting into a role like an Orange Cassidy or something like that. When you see Eddie on TV and he's talking, that's literally him."
Jon Moxley says pro-wrestling today is equivalent to smarter fans
Over the past few years, wrestling has been dominated by WWE and the company itself has continued the narrative similar to that of 50 years ago. However, Jon Moxley believes that times have changed and that pro-wrestling is now a profession that is surrounded by smarter and more educated fans.
"It's a bunch of different things all rolled into one. And it can be anything. A lot of different ways, like different genres this thing can be. I'm a fan of all of them. To me, wrestling in 2020, the fans are smarter and more educated. I don't like when I'm in the locker room and some guy's going, "Oh the marks on Twitter are saying this, bunch of stupid marks" or whatever and treating fans like they're idiots. That pisses me off. The old-school wrestling mentality was that this is a work, and we're carnies and we're trying to cheat people out of money — we're trying to present this thing, tricking them into thinking it's real, and taking their money from them. That's the origins of carny wrestling a century ago. That's not what it is today."
It is great to see wrestlers like Jon Moxley making a clear distinction between the pro-wrestling of the past and that of the present. Hopefully, he can continue to produce quality performances that will entice the wrestling fans of 2020 even further.