AEW World Champion Jon Moxley stars in the new movie Cagefighter: World Collide. Moxley plays Randy Stone, a pro wrestler who crosses over into the world of mixed martial arts. Cagefighter premieres exclusively on FITE Pay-Per-View Saturday night, May 16th for fans outside the US. A domestic release is planned for later this year.
Jon Moxley spoke with SEScoops this week about the project. Moxley discussed how former WWE Superstar Christian , identifying with his character Randy Stone and why the Cagefighter story is especially timely with everything going on in the world right now.
Jon Moxley’s Role in Cagefighter
Moxley revealed that former WWE Superstar Christian reached out to him about playing Randy Stone. “You know I originally got a call from Christian,” he began. “He was working as executive producer on this. He was the first one to reach out to me and throw my name out there for this role.”
Moxley told Christian to send him the script and immediately felt, “Yeah, I can play that guy. Because you know the character as is written? He’s kind of a…he’s basically a jerk. Kind of an a**hole. There’s an unapproachable kind of chip on his shoulder. A kind of bristly quality to him that is not unlike what I may have been when I was younger.”
He would go into how the character mimicked elements of himself and would mesh perfectly with the antagonist character of Randy Stone.
“I am…at my worst times? I can sometimes not be the most approachable guy in the world. Combine that with trying to bring a bit more of the over the top, full of himself, talking, big ego kind of always a pro wrestler thing? It’s kind of a combination of those two things; being the super obnoxious guy who just runs his mouth so much you want to see him get his clock cleaned by the end of the film. Combine that with a little bit of my chip on your shoulder, kind of bristly real life personality? That’s kind of what I tried to bring to it.”
Ad Libbing His Lines
All Elite Wrestling provides its wrestlers the ability to cut promos without over-scripting. Moxley has praised this aspect of the AEW creative process.
Film acting is traditionally a more structured format. Jon Moxley was given the leeway to ‘ad lib’ most of his lines in Cagefighter.
“Cool thing for me was so much of my lines in this movie are ad libs,” he said. “They just really gave me the freedom to just kind of say whatever I want. As far as, talking trash and cutting promos and stuff like that. We had a scene where we did a press conference and all these different interviews. Where I’m talking trash to them. It was really fun to just kind of be able to be obnoxious and say whatever thing comes to your head. It was really fun.”
Cagefighter & Today’s Climate
Jon Moxley feels the film is suitable for the current world climate, with the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic still causing many to lose jobs.
“Basically the the story of the movie? It’s kind of apropos for right now; this guy hits the skids, and the worst thing that could happen to him happens that he’d never imagined could happen. He hits rock bottom and he’s ruined in every sense. Personally, professionally and financially. He’s embarrassed, and he has to climb all the way back up to the top. To where he was before, and a redemption story like that is kind of a good message to send right now I think. So many people are being affected by these crazy times, financial or worse.”
He elaborated on this point further, saying “I think it’s gonna probably still have lingering effects for the next year or two or longer. People have lost their jobs, businesses have shut down. People have been laid off. You know people are taking hits right now, so any kind of message of perseverance? Picking yourself up and dusting yourself off? Tough times won’t last forever, you just gotta get back to the grind and do it. I think that a good message to send right now.”
Jon Moxley says he has not yet seen the film, but will be watching live on FITE pay-per-view onMay 16th. “I myself haven’t even seen it yet because I’m waiting till May 16 to watch it with everybody else, and kind of experience it all together on the night of the premiere so it’s very, very exciting.”
Order CAGEFIGHTER: Worlds Collide on FITE PPV
