If there's one thing the unofficial ace of AEW, Jon Moxley, isn't a fan of, its… calendars?
Sitting down for an interview with Comicbook.com, Moxley opened up about just that, noting that, in his opinion, there's nothing gained by measuring one's accomplishments in terms of individual years, as it can produce misleading results.
“Maybe that wasn't the right way to say it though, because the more I'm thinking about it…well, what is a manmade year on a 12-month calendar with these weeks and months?” Jon Moxley said via Comicbook.com. “The point is, I don't know why we focus on years. We always measure everything in years. Because then, okay, well what happens when the year ends? Are you going to stop? Are you only going to be good for this one year? I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud.”
Still, considering it's still January, Moxley was asked to reflect on 2023 and look at what turned out to be a very unique entry into his professional wrestling career for reasons known and unknown by fans of his in-ring work. Why? Well, because the leader of the Blackpool Combat Club remains committed to his sobriety, even if the journey has been harder than he expected.
“Yeah, 2023 was actually very tough. It's been a tough couple of years actually. I went to rehab a couple of years ago, and there's a lot more to that than what they tell you – the reality of actually stopping doing coke or go to rehab or stop drinking or whatever,” Moxley noted.
“Not drinking… that's easy to a degree. It's only one thing you got to do, just not drink. But that was just a way of life for me for over 20 years, and you mess up your brain chemistry over time. So, it's the other side of getting everything back to normal and just figuring out how to live and while your brain kind of rewires itself and heals and comes back to normal. But what's never been normal to you? It hadn't been normal to me since I was like 14 or something like that. That part's really hard. Everybody's going to be different and will present challenges and stuff. So the last couple of years have been really challenging. There's a lot of stuff outside of the ring, and wrestling gets annoying, like it always does.”
Goodness, consider how much Moxley accomplished in 2023, from wrestling for the Continental Championship to holding the International Championship for an albeit abbreviated reign and even working matches for outside promotions like Pro Wrestling Revolver and New Japan Pro Wrestling, it's incredible to learn that he struggled so mightily behind the scenes. Fortunately, Moxley is feeling much better about 2024, as he feels he is building towards something incredible.
Jon Moxley believes 2024 is going to be his year.
While Moxley may not be looking back at 2023 with too much nostalgia in the future, he hopes 2024 be noticeably different in a good way, as he feels as though he has momentum at his back and wants to ride it to success.
“Now it's a new year and stuff, and I'm like, ‘2024 is going to be my year. I don't know, many times in my career I feel like I got a little momentum brewing in myself. A lot of times the universe will bow to your whims if you make it so, and many times where I almost feel like exactly what I feel. I feel like I know something the rest of the world doesn't know yet. They're not even looking at me. They've completely written me off and have no idea I'm coming and I'm about to blow everybody's world up. Like I know a secret the rest of the world doesn't know kind of thing,” Jon Moxley said.
“I feel like I can feel it, I can sense it, I can visualize it. I don't think people are expecting that and are wanting to already write off my career or place me in where exactly I am. And I don't necessarily like that. Maybe I fail miserably, but this year will be an exercise in me trying to go even further and get even better. And hopefully at the end of 2024, if you want to measure it by that is 2025, I'll be a completely different wrestler at a completely different level.”
What more could Moxley accomplish in 2024 that he didn't in 2023? Well, considering he's already pointed his sights directly on the new IWGP World Heavyweight Tetsuya Naito after his career-affirming win at Wrestle Kingdom 18, it's safe to say he is not slowing down any time soon.
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