Jon Moxley Says AEW Is Building Something They Can Take Pride In

In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Jon Moxley spoke about his goals for AEW and said that the company is trying to build something they can take pride in. Moxley will defend the AEW World title against Powerhouse Hobbs on tonight’s AEW Dynamite. Here are highlights:

On storytelling in wrestling: “Storytelling is always needed, it’s essential, it’s non-negotiable. It’s a vital element to wrestling. You need a hook. How much more do you enjoy sports when you have an investment in who the person is or the story of the season? Wrestling is no different. You’re not going to pick up a book that has a bunch of descriptions of random objects or events — there has to be a story or a thread that will take you on a ride.”

On Dynamite in Cincinnati: “I’ve always thought Cincinnati was an underserved market as far as wrestling is concerned. This city is a great sports town, a great entertainment town, has a ton of wrestling fans and history. It’s a great community that I’m very proud to be a part of. I could literally walk to the show. To a lot of people, they might just say, ‘Oh, that’s the guy we see all the time.’ I’m pretty easy to find around here. I don’t want to be one of these guys who moves to a city and are ‘part of the community’ when the cameras are out but actually live an hour away in a gated community. It’s pretty important to me to show people here that I am in it with them every day. I work out at the [YMCA] downtown. They’ll recognize me, I just might be strangling someone.”

On building something in AEW: “We’re building. It’s about a lot more than what happens in the ring. Building something sustainable for the future that we can take pride in, we’ve been doing that for the past few months. It’s about a mindset and an approach of taking pride in what we do. We have a lot of guys and girls that are part of it. I’m pretty proud, but it’s a long game and it’s little tiny victories every day and a constant learning process. It’s really exciting.”