Jon Moxley On How It Was Traveling With The Shield
Jon Moxley is still a young man at 35 but he's been wrestling for over 16 years now. That's a lot of pounding on a body especially considering the kinds of hardcore matches he did earlier in his career in CZW.
Moxley's schedule has relaxed in AEW – in terms of the quantity of matches and the types of matches – and he knows that's a requirement to last another 16 years in the ring. He talked about listening to his body more nowadays when he joined his wife's podcast: Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette.
"The mistake I made earlier which was working all the time. Work ultimately pays off, but you have to work smarter and not harder. Doing things in training, increase mobility – I don't have a problem taking a full rest day," said Moxley.
"I have to work. I can't sit around and do nothing. A rest day is good for recovery. I'm about to be 35. The career I had before this – as far as deathmatches and a lot of stupid stuff I did to my body – all the time in WWE, years of literally going through multiple tables every single night and driving a zillion miles. I haven't missed a day of work in years.
"I can feel my physical window. Not that it's closing, but I'm aware of it now. I want to keep it open and extend. I want to wrestle as long as I possibly can. I want to wrestle when I'm 50. I want to wrestle if we have kids and they can come to see me wrestle. Over the next year or two, I'll kind of see where I'm at physically and make a decision."
If Moxley wants to wrestle when he's 50 but also wants to see where he's at in a year or two, then he seems to be indicating that he could take some time off in the near future. He talked more about how much longer he'll wrestle and also his early days of traveling with The Shield.
"Those first couple of years, me and The Shield were on the road every week for two years straight – be home for 36 hours. I wouldn't even go home. I would just go to the next town because of going to [my home in] Vegas and turning right back around. I didn't mind. It was an adventure back then. I was having a great time," said Moxley.
"To answer your question [if he'll keep wrestling], I'm going to reevaluate in the next year or two, see where I'm at, and just kind of make a plan from there."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.