Jon Moxley made it clear in numerous interviews after his WWE departure that he wasn’t a fan of trying to negotiate with Vince McMahon and the WWE creative team regarding his character and various storylines. And ever since he arrived in AEW his persona has felt rejuvenated, showing off the hard-nosed he was often forced to keep buried on WWE television. In a recent interview with PWInsider, Moxley talked about what it’s like trying to pitch ideas to AEW president Tony Khan compared to how difficult it was with McMahon.
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“He’s business savvy, but also just an incredibly passionate wrestling fan,” Moxley said. “He’s so easy to get excited, if I go up like, ‘Dude, I got this idea. What if we did this?’ And he’d be like, ‘Dude, that’s awesome. What if we did this then? And then we can do that.’ And he’ll get all excited like a little kid. And I’ll be like, ‘Hold on, tone it down. Tone it down.’ Which is cool. You want that.
“Whereas sometimes, I come in and talk to Vince and I’m all excited,” he added. “I’m like,’”Dude, okay, here we go. We’re going to do this, this, this. Then this. Then we do this on Raw. And then on pay-per-view this. What do you think?’ And it’s like talking to a door. Dude, hello, I’m giving you awesome. They’re like, nope. We’re just going to do the same old crap we always do. I’m like, whatever.
Moxley opted not to re-sign with WWE in early 2019, and wound up arriving in AEW at the end of the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in May 2019. In the months that followed he feuded with the likes of Joey Janela and Kenny Omega, then turned his attention to Chris Jericho’s AEW World Championship. He beat “Le Champion” for the title at AEW Revolution, and has since taken on the rest of The Inner Circle faction and defended his title against Jake Hager. No word yet on who he’ll defend his title against at this year’s Double or Nothing next month.
This week’s AEW Dynamite will feature the semifinals of the TNT Championship tournament — Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin and Dustin Rhodes vs. Lance Archer. The winners will meet in the finals at Double or Nothing, crowning the company’s newest champion.
