Renee Paquette Shares Thoughts On Jon Moxley’s Bloody Deathmatch With Nick Gage

Renee Paquette joined Busted Open Radio today to talk about her husband Jon Moxley's GCW World Championship match with Nick Gage this past Saturday night. Though Moxley retained the title, Paquette admitted the match, a death match, was hard to watch, and potential future title defenses aren't something she's necessarily looking forward to.

"Obviously it's really hard to watch," Paquette said. "I don't even really know how to put it into words. You're watching your loved one, my husband, doing this insane s**t. You see him bleeding that much, you see his back torn up. It looked like ground beef. He walked in the door yesterday. By the time he got home, I'd never seen him look worse. So it's hard to watch, it's hard to see him go through that.

"Also, he retained the championship. So what does that mean, does that mean there's more of this? That's kind of where my head goes. It's stressful, it's really hard to watch. It's hard to see him bleeding that much and the thick panes of glass. How many light tubes? Is it in his eyes, is it in his lungs? This is some of the stuff that just kind of goes through my mind while I'm watching him do this."

Paquette, who was already worried about the match going in, watched it from home and tweeted while the match was going on. She revealed what concerned her was less what she saw and more what she heard from friends attending the show live.

"So I'm watching it from home and I'm getting the perspective from home," Paquette said. "I'm hearing the commentary, I'm hearing Mick Foley, I'm kind of into the show, watching the entire card. But then seeing how much he was bleeding, how much glass there was everywhere and then having friends of mine that were there message me. That's what kind of throws me over the edge, it's when the people that are there that are messaging me saying, 'I can't watch this. This is a lot. Are you okay?'

"That's what stresses me out. Cause I can still watch it on TV and there's still that barrier between me and actually being there that makes it a little bit more palpable to accept. But when friends of mine are there, sending me videos from the crowd and checking in on me, that's when I'm like, 'oh my god, is he okay?' That's when it gets stressful."

Paquette was asked if she and Moxley had ever had conversations about him doing these type of matches. She said that was the case, but that she doesn't grill Moxley on it because its his profession, even if it does lead to several cuts and bruises along the way.

"Sure, but at the same time, we don't have that conversation often because as much as, yes, I can say this is awful for me to watch and I hate seeing him physically go through all that stuff. But it is his profession," Paquette said. "Also, I understand this profession maybe a little bit better than someone else's wife would understand. Coming from the wrestling world, I get it to a degree. So I don't grill him a lot by any means, but there are times where I'm like 'what is happening?' The thing is, I want him to go out the door. I want him to go do the things he wants to do, I want him to be happy and I want to see him to thrive in that space, and obviously he is.

"But as soon as he walks through the door, I'm still in wife mode. I'm like 'alright, let me see. I want to assess all of the damage.' And that's exactly what happened yesterday. He was wearing a baseball hat for his flight to cover up all the marks on his forehead. And I pulled it off, not paying attention to the fact that it was being held on by dried blood. So I pulled it off and it just started bleeding all over again. His shirt was just stuck to his back. He had to go upstairs and shower again. Definitely the worst that I've seen of it. But all I can do is spray it down with some hydrogen peroxide, maybe get a little aloe vera on there and hope for the best."

Paquette also took the time to delve into Moxley's mindset of doing independent shows. She feels it's not something Moxley had to do but that he wants to do it because he loves wrestling and wants to do stuff in wrestling that he can take pride in.

"It's what he wants to do, and that's the thing," Paquette said. "Whether it's him showing up in GCW and winning their title and having these matches with Nick Gage, or he pops up to DEFY in Seattle and he shows up there, that's the thing that he wants to do. He loves indie wrestling, he loves being a part of that. So I think for somebody with the name and the clout and the credibility that he has, to be in that space where he's doing it because he wants to be there, that's Jon. That's the guy that he is.

"He's not there looking to be rich and famous and be on TV. He wants to do art and matches that he's proud of. The ball is in his court to be able to do that. And that's exactly what he's doing right now. So for me to say 'hey, I don't want you to do that', obviously I don't want him to get injured. That's first and foremost. But for him to creatively be able to scratch that itch, that's what I want to see him do. I want to see him happy with his work."

One thing that does comfort Paquette is the confidence that Moxley has in being able to perform these matches and come out of them okay. She also knows he will never do anything that could potentially leave him, her or the rest of their family in a bad situation.

"It's not so much the things that he says to me," Paquette said. "He's incredibly confident in what he does, and that makes me feel more comfortable and more confident in what he's doing. I know that Jon's never going to do something that's going to put me in a bad spot or put our family in a bad spot. I always have that in the back of my mind. He knows what he's doing, he's one of the absolute best in the world to be doing this. So if that's not assurance for me, then nothing else could be."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription