Jon Moxley, the AEW Continental Champion and leader of the Death Riders, appeared on AEW Close Up with his wife, Renee Paquette, to discuss various topics, including the sources of his drive and discipline.
Moxley said, “I’ve asked the question before, like what do I have that nobody else has, and the answer is nothing. I was not gifted anything. It’s not who my daddy is. It’s not my physical skills and gifts. It’s not uh my friends or the people I kiss ass to. I’ve never been good at any of that. I’ve never been gifted at any of that. I’ve never been the front runner. I’ve never had a choice but to do everything the hard way, to do everything manual, to do everything analog. There is no shortcut, quick fix. Have I been very fortunate at times? Has the universe conspired to work out perfectly God’s perfect timing? Yes, I believe so. But I had to do the work. I had to hold up my end. And I still have to. Or I’ll get run over, or I’ll become irrelevant. That’s the only reason I’m here in the first place. The thing that’s largely been taken out of the game today is okay, you’re big, you’re strong, you’re fast, you can win matches, but can you handle this lifestyle? Can you be away from your family? Can you wrestle 200 times a year? Can you be on the road every single night? That’s all largely been taken away. It’s easy.”
On seeing other wrestlers who are mentally checked out and collecting a paycheck:
“But I choose not to let it become easy. And I see these other guys who love it because it’s easy. And I see some guys, and I feel bad for them because they don’t know any other way but easy. And I see them mentally checked out, and their paycheck is still coming through. But they’re not here. And they’re not going to reach their full potential unless they take it upon themselves to do it. To make sure they leave no stone unturned. to make sure they leave no hour, no minute, no second wasted. Take a guy like Gabe Kidd, who is the perfect guy who showed up at the perfect time. And I say to him, I have a job for you. It’s really difficult. It’s not going to pay any extra. A lot of people are going to hate you. The stakes are very, very, very high, and you will get no credit, no applause whatsoever. Maybe the opposite, before I even finish my sentence, he’s looking for a place to sign his name on the paper. A guy like this, how can I not put 100% in every single day? Right? Somebody like Marino, how can I not put in 100% every single day? I have to live what I — I have to practice what I preach. I have to live the life that I espouse. You know, I could get by and make it really easy on myself, but I choose not to because somebody’s got somebody’s got to show them the way, right? Everybody, every old-timey wrestler talks about how it was harder back in the day. And yeah, I’m sure somebody somewhere is talking about how these people today, they don’t even know what it’s like to milk a cow. They just go to the store, and you know, like, yeah, like things change and things evolve. You have to accept it. You know, I’m not going to be one of these guys who just talks and talks in circles and just is totally full of I refuse to be full of I will do what I say until I can’t do it anymore. So you know these people sacrifice, you know their time, their immense effort, and you know I have to hold up my end.”
On the physical and mental cost and how he’s chasing ‘mastery’:
“If you’re not affected physically and mentally, you’re not doing this job right. I mean, definitely if you’re going in any match at 100%, then you’re not doing this job right. It’s just part of the game at this point. For me, pain is just information. It just gives me data. You know, it’s largely ambivalent to it. I’m chasing mastery. This idea of mastery is not something you’re ever going to hold in your hand. And if you do figure everything out, then the game’s going to evolve. And then you’re going to have to learn new things and catch up. It’s just going to keep on spinning infinitely. So there is no end ever. The rewards of that are not external. They’re not, you know, what you get. They’re what you become. They’re the person you become in chasing mastery in whatever it is. Whatever it is you’re doing. I there are people who are motivated by the external, the money, the cars, the belts, the Instagram followers, or TikTok people, or whatever the people do. There are people that are intrinsically motivated. There are people who want to get good at the thing, and that is their motivation. These are the people I surround myself with. These are the people I give my time to. Death riders are intrinsically motivated to be the best at this. Not better than the other guy, but better than they were yesterday. Better than we were yesterday. And where everybody else falls on the ladder on the rail. We’re not even playing that game. I don’t care about anybody else. I’m really having a hard time, like last couple years, especially, you know, I don’t feel like I’m even the same person I was even a couple years ago. I really don’t real hard time relating to people now. I was standing in a group of people, and they’re talking about stuff, and I’m not really even sure what they’re talking about. Even if they’re talking about wrestling, I’m like, are we even talking about wrestling right now? Like what, what the hell are you even talking about? I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel like everybody is sucked into some game that I’ve just opted out of, and I feel very disconnected, you know, from the entire world, and things just don’t feel connected to things.”
On how he doesn’t feel lonely in the ring:
“It’s not. It’s that it’s not, I just don’t care about the things most other people care about. In the ring, none of that matters or exists. In the ring, everything makes sense. In the ring, I have my hands on the controls of everything, and everything makes sense, and I learn every time I go to the ring, and that is, I think, probably the biggest difference between me and everybody else. Why I was able to come out of the Continental Classic. Why I can beat anybody in the world, of any style, of any size or shape, against any odds on any night is that I go to the ring to learn. I think they say seek first to understand, not to be understood. So, I go to the ring seeking to understand. I don’t go out there to show off my thing that I can do. I say, ‘Okay, what do you got?’ And I just do something, and I see what the guy does. And then I do something. I just see what he does. Every time I get to be in the ring is a chance to increase my understanding of this listening, right? If I can impose my will on my opponent and win in 30 seconds, that’s fine. But did I learn anything? If I know I can blow up his ass, then you and I go out there and whoop his ass, then did I learn anything? So, I’m getting better every single time out, and my understanding of this craft is increasing at an exponential level.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
