Jon Moxley Details Tony Khan's Approach When Producing AEW Matches
In an appearance on Cincy 360 With Tony Pike, AEW star Jon Moxley talked about working in his hometown of Cincinnati for AEW Dynamite this week. Moxley is thrilled to be back home and is even more thrilled that AEW is picking up momentum, thanks to a well received All Out, and the arrival of stars like CM Punk, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson.
"I remember the last time I wrestled here would be like 2018, the last time I competed here," Moxley said. "You always get that special energy. It's like Superman flying close to the sun to regain his energy when you're in your hometown. It's going to be a wild atmosphere. AEW is a party atmosphere. It's wrestling fans that know we're wrestling fans. AEW has a great relationship with its audience, where they know we're not out there to swerve them or make a buck off them. They're not just customers to us, they're not just dollar signs. We're fans and they're fans, and we all just love pro wrestling.
"I feel like the 10,000 people that are going to be at the Fifth Third Arena, the people that were at the PPV in Chicago the other night, and us, I feel like we'd all still be here even if none of us were getting paid and we were doing this for free. We'd all just be here for the love and passion of it. It's kind of just a gathering of pro wrestling fans. Professional wrestling is getting cool again. A lot of fans, people would be like, 'you watch wrestling?' And you're like, 'dude, you don't get it. You don't get it, man.' Now more people are getting it and now it's hotter than it's ever been. And it's getting hotter and you can feel the momentum coming off the last PPV we just had. It may be one of the best wrestling PPV's in the last decade or so. The hits keep on coming, and once the momentum gets going, it's just one of those things. If you want to jump on board and be a part of AEW, now is the time."
Moxley also went into what had made AEW successful and what had drawn some of these key free agents to the promotion. He believes it comes down to AEW President Tony Khan allowing the performers a level of authenticity that's not allowed anywhere else.
"Most of the stuff isn't rocket science. That's what I was saying a couple of years back and even before that when I was in WWE," Moxley said. "Just let the performers be authentic and let them do what they do and go out there and kill it in the best way possible. Tony Khan is such a huge wrestling fan of all different styles, of all different eras. He's so familiar with everything that he just wants to watch the wrestler be their best self. So when he puts a match together and we get the Young Bucks vs. Lucha Brothers, he's like, 'I can't wait to see this.' He's not telling them what to do. He's not going, 'okay, I'm going to put your parameters. I'm going to keep you confined to make sure you only thirteen superkicks. Any more and I'm going to be on the headset yelling, 'too many damn superkicks!” No, he just goes, 'go out there and do your thing.' That's what it should be.
"All these other people trying to control things, producers, writers, whoever all these other talking heads are talking to the ref, talking to you. It should just be the performers going out there and doing what they do, doing their job. That's what AEW is. If you haven't seen wrestling in awhile, this is something different. And it's the coolest thing going. If you're a fan of sports entertainment, drama, anything man, there's a little something for everyone in AEW. You have a variety show of a little bit of everything. You have very intense, violent, physical encounters if that's your thing. You have crazy, high-flying action, you got the best tag teams in the world doing the most innovative, dramatic, crazy, exciting matches. We've got a great women's roster of incredible, talented women. We've got everything. It's the place to be."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Cincy 360 With Tony Pike and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription