Tony Acero is alive and well at The Chairshot, and is diving headfirst to talk about Jon Moxley, the notion of art, and so much more!

“I had so much fire in me and so many plans.” – Claude Monet

On May 25, 2019, All-Elite Wrestling was on-air all over the world with their inaugural event, “Double or Nothing,” Praised heavily practically everywhere, it was a huge shot to the veins of what some would claim is the dying body of wrestling, reinvigorating the industry and fans alike. This syringe placed to the pulsing arm of the wrestling fandom had a surprise dosage at the end in the  form of Jon Moxley, and while some are comparing his appearance on DoN akin to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash showing up on WCW programming, others see it as more of a TNA move more than anything. Still, the fact is that people are talking.

Speaking of talking, Jon Moxley had a visit from Chris Jericho and laid it all out on air, speaking heavily on topics of creative disagreements, his decision to leave the WWE, his attempts to reclaim the passion he felt he lost, and various other things. The podcast itself was over an hour long and is so full of topics and interesting segues that I could write a series of columns regarding his feelings on the WWE alone! However, it would be unlikely I’d be able to say anything different than numerous other columns, podcasts, and wrestling fans already have. Instead, I’ll focus on the one point I noticed that kept popping up, and just how interesting it is; that of passion.

As a writer, I tend to look at the WWE product with a different lens. I also recap RAW on a weekly basis to the point where it’s become almost second nature to predict the most minute of details. Aside from that, I do a podcast immediately following RAW to supplement the report. This is all to say that fatigue is very very possible, and the way I see the show is more from a writer’s perspective than anything. Because of this, I don’t particularly care about work rate, ratings, number of championship wins, heel and face dedication, or even kayfabe. At the end of the day, I care mostly about the writing. It is because of this that the idea of passion, specifically Moxley and Jericho’s conversation around it, stuck out to me enough to dust the keyboard off the metaphorical typewriter and come back to the wrestling writing world…

About halfway into the podcast, Jon Moxley brings up how, as a child, he would cut promos by himself; how he would stare in a mirror and just go to town; how he was a huge fan, and in one of the rare audible moments outside of shilling Omaha Steaks, Jericho agreed and even had something to say regarding said passion. The idea wasn’t so much that these guys were looking to get rich by obtaining their dream of wrestling for the mecca of the wrestling world; but that they could portray these larger than life characters with the passion that they garnered by way of simply loving wrestling. One such word stuck out in their back and forth.

ART

This, I believe, is where the massive divide of wrestlers – and to a degree, their fans – is both apparent and important, yet gets shunned quite often due to blind rage of a fan behind a keyboard. While one may claim that this carny sideshow act that we call wrestling is anything but art, and while these “some” have the right to this opinion, the wrestlers themselves couldn’t really give any shit less. They consider what they do as art. Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley consider what they do art. Let that sink in for a bit. ART. They feel that every single aspect of what they do is art.

This strikes a chord with me so heavily, because although I am not putting my body on the line on a weekly basis, every single word that I type onto a metaphorical piece of paper to be read is something that I consider art, and with that thought comes an expectation of appreciation of art. Likewise, it comes with a responsibility to those who appreciate said art. If, in fact, this column is read by 5 people, and all 5 hate it, then that is a burden I carry. If, however, it is read by 5,000 people and the all-powerful Greg DeMarco tells me that I must do something to hinder this art, I will feel degraded, minuscule, and even worse if people hate it.

Moxley reached a point in his career where someone took his art, mangled it to a point where it was unrecognizable, and churned it out to the masses disguised as humor, wrestling, and episodic television. His “art” was lost behind a cloud of 20+ heads and two geriatric hands. This wasn’t a disagreement of character; this wasn’t a butting of creative heads; this was one man seeing his art becoming anything but.

Dissenters will point out that this is to be expected; that the WWE machine has been unchanged for quite some time, and their method of creativity is one that works (as shown by numbers), and one that is set in stone. They will quote people like Booker T who says that he was so successful because he was given a script and did said script the best he could. They will highlight most other jobs where people everywhere do something they don’t want to simply because their boss told them to. Some will even consider Moxley’s martyrdom as a sign of someone who didn’t get what they wanted and left; essentially, taking their ball home ala Austin.

But even if we were to look at Austin, what really was he upset about? Was it losing, or was it the lack of story? How about Sasha Banks? Was she REALLY mad that she lost titles? Do her numerous previous title reigns really count considering how much of a “reign” really were? To be fair, Jon Moxley deserves all the praise in the world for doing everything he could “as right” as he could. From going through with nearly every idea given to him, to attempting to meet with Vince directly, to going out on his back, to assuring his last day would be his last day, and not appearing anywhere else with a title in hand ready to be dumped into a trash can.

A man by the name of Patrick O’Dowd tweeted after hearing the podcast:

Here's what I've gathered from this Jon Moxley interview: Jon had specific expectations of what the creative process of a wrestling company should be. The WWE/Vince did not share that vision. Jon thought it sucks, left &moved on to somewhere that meets his expectations.

— Patrick O'Dowd (@WrestlngRealist) May 29, 2019

I find this to be a very important assessment because, Patty O is 100% correct. The truncated version of any column should, essentially, be this tweet. One could look at this situation a billion ways, and that tweet will almost always be the end result. That, however, would be a disservice to sites everywhere. We writers love to hear/read our own voice/words.

Look, I can write numerous columns on just HOW MUCH I HATE the creative process of the WWE machine, and HOW MUCH I LOATHE what they present on television weekly (and believe me, people, I will), but keeping in line with what struck me the most, I have to accompany O’Dowd’s tweet with the fact that it wasn’t just a difference of expectations; it was also a loss of passion <i>due to</i> the difference in creative expectations.

Find me a wrestler on the roster of the WWE who oozes passion, creatively. It will ultimately be a matter of opinion, but I’m hard pressed to find someone whose passion I believe on the screen (this, while knowing full well that a majority have it embedded in them permanently). I see it in glimpses; Ricochet’s first time on Raw, The Iiconics winning the tag team titles (a decision I disagreed with, but we’re talking about passion here), Gargano in the Rumble, Candice LaRae in the Rumble. But look at all those! Those are easy stories of a “rookie” making it to the big time. It’s a story that needs no writer. The creativity needed for those moments is null. What happens in five years? Ten years? Two years, even – when these guys are asked to do a comedy skit that simply doesn’t add to any story that is currently being presented in any way, shape, or form, and make no mistake – comedy has a place in wrestling, as in life.

As a creative, it’s hard to differentiate ego from work. I can tell you, right now, that I am a great writer. I firmly believe that. I’d like to prove it. If, given a specific writing assignment, I’d kill it to the best of my ability, but I am – ultimately – at my best when I’m given a blank page and a general direction. Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, Sasha Banks, Steve Austin, and countless others understand the model of the company, but at various times, they perhaps felt that it was working against them far more than it was working with them. Do you truly think, that any of the aforementioned wanted or want the WWE to “fail?” No. True, they are challenging the current status quo, but not because it doesn’t suit just them. They are all still fans, just like us, and they see a product – supposedly the GREATEST amongst them all – losing CREATIVELY (not monetarily, not buyrate, not Network numbers, not butts in seats) on a weekly basis.

There are tons of arguments out there; creative freedom versus scripts, bullet points versus freestyle, storyboards versus rehearsals, and not one of them is the “RIGHT WAY,” but when it comes to someone who sees wrestling as ART, who screams passion with every word that comes out of their drool-dripping lips, who bleeds because they think the story calls for it – when it comes to that person, there is no RIGHT WAY, but there are plenty of wrong ways, and the WWE seems to know them all.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams

Tony Acero is better than you in almost nothing except Scrabble.

Twitter: @TonyAcero411