Did you really think you were gonna make it out?
Jon Moxley was made on promos. Scathing, unrelenting, often cruel promos designed to terrorize and dismember an opponent piece by piece before fists even start swinging. All while never failing to captivate audiences all over the world. The grueling nature of Mox’s promos is something fans are used to. But as fans in Washington D.C. revved up, and people all over the world turned their eyes to the January 19 edition of AEW Dynamite, they were greeted with a different kind of promo.
It was Jon Moxley through and through there’s no doubt about it. But it was different in the way that instead of promoting the bodily harm of others, it was delivered subconsciously in the business of saving lives. It’s not one of those cheesy things. It’s not even an overdramatic thing to say. Jon Moxley’s January 19 promo will go on to create a change we as individuals could only wish to create.
But how? How does a speech given on a wrestling show hold so much meaning and have the power to reach the unreachable?
I’ll tell you how.
One in five people struggle with mental illnesses. Over 50% of those people are not getting help or treatment.
The correlation between this and the promo may seem like a stretch, but if that’s the case then you’re probably lucky enough to not have a mental illness.
The foundation of Mox’s promo was, of course, his own personal battles and struggles, and as fans there’s no room to speculate or believe you know his story. We truly don’t know what when on during his personal leave. But as someone with multiple mental struggles, struggles that seemingly run in the family, there’s was something about this promo that was just so….. there you know? When he detailed the dream he had and that dark cloud screaming, “Did you really think you were gonna make it out,” I felt it. And I feel it many a times a week. Because it’s the same cycle over and over and, “Did you really think you were gonna make it out,” is the very bain of my existence.
And I was thinking and aching for my girlfriend and her own struggles with addiction. I was thinking about my uncle who couldn’t be saved. So maybe to the naked eye this impassioned promo was just that- a fervent “welcome back” speech. But to the people who have seen the worst in life, who feel the heavy weight of just existing day in and day out, I think it meant something more. I think of the people who sit and beg for a reason to get up in the morning. I think of the people that can’t get a handle on things. I think of the 52.9 million people that live with a mental illness- and that’s just adults in the U.S, the global total is so much higher! I think that this promo is truly going to do some good. And as someone who suffers from multiple mental health problems there’s not much I believe in anymore. I don’t get hopeful very easily. But hearing somebody else say that thought I have at every breakdown? And then to hear him say how free he feels? Let’s just say all the roads to recovery I haven’t taken are looking really good right now.
Isn’t crazy? How much words mean? Isn’t crazy they can be so powerful that a five minute speech has the ability to alter the lives of millions? Maybe I’m reaching, but there’s just something different in the air now.
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