Christian Contrasts His Leap To TNA To Jon Moxley Signing With AEW

Christian was one of the first notable wrestlers to jump from WWE to TNA/Impact as he did so in 2005. Many see similarities between his move and Dean Ambrose jumping to AEW and becoming Jon Moxley.

Christian was asked about the comparisons between he and Moxley when he joined The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast.

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"Everyone's story is different and I haven't even talked to him about that to be honest with you. It's his deal. But for me, when I left, I was physically and mentally burnt out from being on the road for so long and also feeling I could perform at a higher level than I was," admitted Christian. "When I left I knew I was gonna go back to WWE. But I needed to go because whatever I was doing wasn't working. I needed to take a chance on myself and get better. The only way to do that was take some risks and go somewhere."

He gave kudos to TNA as he enjoyed the few years that he was there and relished the opportunity to be a main eventer.

"They gave me the confidence to know that I could do this so that when I go back, I would be better equipped. That was my mindset," stated Christian who won his first world championship while in TNA after being a mid-carder during his initial WWE run. He talked about how Moxley has re-invented himself in AEW.

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"I think he's done a tremendous job. Obviously he's the champion and there was great noise about him and what he was gonna do next. Anytime you can surprise the fan base ? which is hard to do these days and he did that ? and that gave him a lot of momentum as well."

Christian and Moxley star together in the movie Cagefighter in which Moxley portrays Randy Stone. The original script of the movie called for Stone to be portrayed by someone much bigger than Moxley and Christian talked how Moxley was able to pull off the role.

"[Moxley] has to match the person he's fighting and they need to be in the same weight class. In the film that matches up really well, but it was more of the persona for me. He's a deceivingly big guy when you see him and he'll match up physically with the MMA fighter, no problem. But more than anything, the persona will sell the character. The way that wrestlers work best ? try not to script the promos and it will be more true to life if you just give them some guidelines to go by," said Christian.

The end of Christian's in-ring career coincided with the start of Moxley's WWE career as Dean Ambrose. Christian was asked about his relationship with Moxley.

"We're friends and I worked with him early in his WWE career with The SHIELD and lots of live events. He and I always got along and I'm also very good friends with Renee. So, we keep in contact and we're friends," said Christian before being asked how he and Moxley connected for Cagefighter.

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"When I had him in mind, no matter where he was we were gonna try to get him because I think he's the right guy. When the casting came, he had just become a free agent. We didn't bombard him right away and gave him some space for a week or so. Then I texted him about the script, sent it to him and he liked it."

Christian produced and stars in the upcoming film "Cagefighter", also featuring current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell. "Cagefighter" will make it's world debut on May 16th via FITE.tv.

Christian's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.

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