Jon Moxley On Why He Thinks People Liked The Shield, How His Goals Are Different Now

In an interview with Bleacher Report, Jon Moxley reflected on the ten-year anniversary of the Shield and how he feels about wrestling a decade later. Here are highlights:

On The Shield turning babyface: “When the people started to really like us, it was because they could see how hard we worked. It was very organic… I still carry that attitude and work ethic today. That competitive mindset is very valuable to have.”

On how wrestling gave his life meaning: “I had no life to speak of before wrestling. I just existed, learning and figuring out what the world is. And then my whole identity became wrestling from the time I was a teenager. Everything was wrapped up in this world. I grew up in this world and in WWE in a lot of ways, but wrestling gave me everything: my family, my wife, every tangible asset I have.”

On wanting to give back now: “Wrestling gave me everything, so if I can help one person just a bit along the way to have everything in life that I have now because of wrestling and bring joy to so many people, it’s just such a great job I have. My mindset is totally different now. I’m just a very fortunate individual. I have a great life and I get to fill my day with all these great things that there’s no goal, or at least the goals are different. It’s just getting a bit better at this and bit better at that. My only competition now is myself.”

On The Shield’s place in history: “I don’t get caught up in comparing things too much because a lot of times it’s apples and oranges, but The Shield is mentioned with other factions because of the magic it had to it and it brings back memories of fans. That’s really what this is about: creating magical moments. Wrestling gave me everything, but I think it’s pretty cool. I’d put us up with there with anybody as far as how many kickass matches we had. Our thing was that we were going to outwork everyone every single night. And we did.”