Jon Moxley: Inside The “Always Learning” Mindset of AEW’s Ace (Exclusive)

Jon Moxley has been in the fight game for nearly two decades, but the Purveyor of Violence has no interest in slowing down. The former Dean Ambrose’s career renaissance has been going strong since he hopped the guardrail at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, cementing himself as #AllElite at AEW Double or Nothing 2019. Moxley quickly established himself as a top dog of Tony Khan’s start-up promotion, and within a year of his debut, Moxley was its champion. Even when the world shut down just two weeks into his reign, Moxley waved the AEW flag high throughout the empty arena era, embarking on one of the most critically-acclaimed babyface world championship reigns in recent memory.

Moxley’s résumé has exponentially deepened since then. He reminded audiences of his reliability on multiple occasions throughout 2022 and 2023, taking AEW to the end zone when the company needed a quarterback.

“I think you’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg of what I’m capable of. At least that’s what I’m hoping for,” Moxley, who turns 38 years old next Thursday, told ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley. “But then because I’m not 25 anymore, that’s going to take even more work, even more effort mentally to navigate through all this. I want to get better every single year, every single month, every single day. I’m always trying to learn something. I try to surround myself with people and communicate with people that are of that same mindset.”

That circle is on full-display on AEW TV. Moxley heads up Blackpool Combat Club, a faction of technically-sound professional wrestlers bent on implementing violence in their in-ring styles. Longtime friends Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli stand tall with Moxley, while the younger Wheeler Yuta sponges the knowledge of his veteran stablemates.

Even if Yuta is in a position to learn the most, Moxley admits that he himself is still a student around his younger peers.

“You never know who you’re going to learn from. I have my own coaches that I make sure that are always giving me feedback and ideas,” Moxley continued. “William Regal will always be a guy like that for me. Josh Barnett’s another guy like that. I try to keep myself in the student role as much as possible so that I’m always learning and getting better.”

“Always learning” is no hyperbole either.

“This is a Kobe Bryant quote that was really smart where he said, ‘If your entire life becomes about getting better at basketball, then the whole world becomes your library,’” Moxley added. “Because then everything gets framed as like, okay, how can this make me a better basketball player?”

Moxley applies that mindset to professional wrestling. While he does have a life outside of the squared circle, Moxley takes everything that his eyes come across and thinks about it can improve his in-ring career.

“If I go to jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, sparring, training pro wrestling, talking about pro wrestling, whether I’m f–king shooting videos back and forth, even if I’m just reading a comic book, my radar is still open,” Moxley explained. “Maybe this character will say something to this character and that will be an idea that I could steal and then use for pro wrestling. I’m constantly taking in information and trying to assimilate it and use it all eventually to be used in the ring.

“I don’t have many interests other than just the s–t that I like. If it doesn’t involve arm bars and punching people in the face and wrestling and f–king barbed wire and chairs and s–t, then it’s really not that interesting to me. I pretty much just do that 24/7.”

Moxley currently sits atop the Gold League of the AEW Continental Classic with six points, tied with Swerve Strickland.

This article is Part 2 of Jon Moxley’s interview with ComicBook.com. For the first half, click here.