Jon Moxley Details Why He Left WWE, “Embarrassing” Promos, Says Vince’s System Is “Killing” WWE

Jon Moxley was the guest on the latest episode of Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho, and he was extremely open about exactly why he was unhappy in WWE, giving several examples.

There’s a lot to unpack in the 90+ minute interview, but a good summary is this from Ambrose: “I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. And nothing but gratitude toward WWE. I’m so grateful for my run there. That place changed my life. […] I got to live my dream. If nothing else, I met my wife in WWE. Needless to say, the past eight years couldn’t have been more successful and I’m full of gratitude to WWE for that. Now that I got that out of the way, let’s just bury the company for the next two hours.”

NOW @TalkIsJericho– @JonMoxley UNCENSORED! Just days after making his surprise debut w @AEWrestling, #Mox talks frustrations w @wwe creative, when he knew he wanted out of #WWE for good, his angle w @NiaJaxWWE, thoughts on breaking up #TheShield & more! THIS IS A MUST HEAR SHOW!

— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) May 29, 2019

Fantasizing About Leaving WWE

Ambrose said that while he was injured, he fantasized about leaving WWE because he was dreading the promos and stories they would write for him when he returned.

I was so excited to come back to wrestling, but I was not excited to come back to WWE. I was picturing myself in other places. I was picturing myself coming back to like CZW. I was picturing myself in Japan. Anywhere but WWE.

Constant “Battle” With Vince McMahon

He talked about his constant “battle” with Vince McMahon. He said that when he was a heel, a writer wrote a promo for him that he hated, which was running down things he did that day and Ambrose said they were things that an “idiot” would do, so he had the writer re-write it. The script went to Vince and Vince put everything back in, so a frustrated Ambrose went to talk to Vince in person.

I’m like, ‘I can’t say all this stuff. It’s ridiculous.’ [Vince says] ‘Oh, it’s such good shit! This is the reason people like you. It’s why they connect with you, this is you.’ I’ve had a million conversations with him that are almost this exact conversation. So I go, ‘So I’m an idiot?’ He goes ‘No, it’s you, you’re different!’ That kind of sums up the battle I’ve been fighting for six years.

Counting Down Until His Contract Was Up

He said that he started counting down until his contract ran out after the November 19, 2018 Raw, where he had to do six promos about Seth Rollins and being disgusted by the crowd, all of which he hated and felt made no sense. He talked about trying to get a line about a “pooper scooper” that he called “embarrassing” removed from the script.

I come back to the writers room and we get this – notes from VKM. And it says, ‘Notes from VKM: Dean needs to understand why he needs to insult the audience. Dean needs to read his promos verbatim and not try to re-write them.’

And I’m just like [long sigh]. Just like the feeling of getting punched in the gut like ‘what the…’ And I said to the writer, it’s not his fault, but I yelled at him. He just took the brunt of it. I’m like, ‘Why do I work here? I’m a professional wrestler who can tell stories and come up with promos and I believe that I have the ability to talk people into buildings, I learned those skills years ago and wanted to bring them here to WWE and you just want me to say your stupid lines. If you want somebody to read your stupid lines, hire an actor. Cause they’ll probably do a better job of it than me. I’m not interested in doing it.’

In another one of his promos from that night, he found out that he was going to have to wear a surgical mask that night, then a gas mask the next week, then a hazmat suit the week after.

And I’m like ‘OH MY GOD’, so now I gotta go in to Vince. Again. And I was about to walk in and I was just like, ‘can you give me 30 seconds?’ I remember physically leaning on a road case and feeling like actual exhaustion, just like emotional, physical, mental exhaustion. And not so much because of that day, but because of six years of this. Six years of having to go into this man’s office – this old man, and trying to explain to him why wearing a surgical mask is a stupid idea. Why carrying a little red wagon to the ring is a stupid idea. Why naming a mannequin in the ring is a stupid idea. I was just like, I was done.

So I go in, and I’m like, yo, I tried to explain it that like I don’t think people will be able to understand me if they can’t see my mouth moving. But he’s like, ‘oh, but it’s such…’ So we came to some sort of compromise where I have like a handkerchief, which is a little less embarrassing and he’s just like, ‘oh, you just – it’s just so you. You don’t want to lose that thing that makes you you cause you have so much creative license you can do anything. You can check with props, see if maybe you can put a clothespin on your nose, I don’t know, something like that.’ I’m thinking, ‘What? Creative license? What creative license do I have? I do exactly what you tell me and it’s terrible crap. That’s not creative license.’

So I’m like oh my god, so, whatever, do the promo with the handkerchief, whatever. I remember I ran out of the building when I was done. We had a big fight, I was hot, had a little bit of adrenaline. Everybody’s super happy, people are high-fiving at the end of the show like it was this great success. We got in the truck, went to the hotel around the corner and as soon as I got in the room I was just like – first of all, I need a drink right now. Second of all, I’m like what a waste of time. We didn’t accomplish anything. I have nothing. I did six promos, I can’t tell you what I said. I can’t tell you what the story is. Our angle now is gonna be dead, if it wasn’t dead already. You know? I don’t even have words.

When He Knew That He Was 100% Gone

He then talked about “the day that I knew 100% that I was gone and there was no turning back” and said that he “almost walked out.” It was when he found out that he was going to be backstage getting shots from a doctor to inoculate him from the disgusting fans. He said that he was seething and went in to meet with Vince.

Vince said, ‘This is such good stuff. It’s so well-written. It’s gonna get you a ton of heat.’ I just remember saying it’s just more of this Carrot Top prop comedy and he said ‘there’s no props.’

I had a feeling this was gonna be the last time I say this to him. I went, ‘If this is what you want on your show, I’m the best man for the job. I’m gonna do what I always do and give this my absolute best effort to make this good. If anybody can, it’s me.’

He said that after that show, he felt “dizzy” and told his friends, “I can’t work here. What is this? What are we doing? This is so embarrassing.” He said that he felt “so depressed” and was thinking that this would be the thing that he couldn’t recover from.

Refusing to Say a Line About Roman Reigns

He also said that that promo also had a line about Roman Reigns’ leukemia that he refused to say.

This promo also had a line regarding my actual friend who’s going through leukemia that Vince wanted me to say, that he tried to talk me into saying. This is where I absolutely drew the line. I said, ‘absolutely not.’

He was like, ‘Oh, if you feel uncomfortable, that’s fine.’

It is the worst line. I’m not going to say it on air, that’s how bad it was. It would have been like a thing where someone would had to get fired, maybe me. They might have like lost sponsors, like the Susan G. Komen and all of that. I don’t know who wrote it, I don’t know if it was Vince himself. If it was a writer and you’re listening right now, you should be ashamed of yourself.

WWE “Takes Wrestling Away From You”

He said that he loves wrestling but WWE “takes wrestling away from you.”

They take wrestling away from you. Wrestling is my first love and my only love besides my wife. It’s the thing I’m most passionate about, I love it. I feel like I got it back finally.

Dreading WWE Promos

Promos used to be my favorite part of wrestling. I loved it! They ended up becoming my least favorite part, the part I dread. Because now it’s not me coming up with ideas and coming up with ways for me to hook you into our story, it means me trying not to look like an idiot… Sitting down with a writer, that is not how it is supposed to be!

WWE’s Contract Offer

He said that when WWE offered him a new contract, he didn’t even look at it because no amount of money would have been enough for him to stay.

When He Told Triple H and Vince He Was Leaving

He talked about telling Triple H that he was leaving the weekend before the Royal Rumble:

I said this is not a decision I came to fast or lightly, this has been a long time coming. I’m not going to change my mind. This is not about any one particular thing. This is not an emotional decision. This is happening. I am leaving and it’s OK.

Then he talked to Vince before the Raw after the Rumble:

Vince says, ‘I understand you gave your notice. Thank you so much for everything.’ And we have our talk, then he’s like, ‘I heard you were unhappy about something with the shot. I wish you would have told me. I didn’t know you had all these problems.’ And I’m thinking in my head, ‘Why the fuck was I in your office then? I went storming into your office and said what the hell is this like I do all the time.’

But I’m still trying to babyface him. But I took the opportunity to say everything that I wanted to say. Because I’ve been having this conversation in my head for months.

He said that he told Vince that every Monday, he would get a physical sick feeling anticipating what “goofy shit” would be written for him that week.

Proving “WWE’s Creative Process Sucks” and Vince’s System Is “Killing the Company”

He said that he wants WWE to be better and said that his friends and his wife still work there, but he now wants to “prove that WWE’s creative process sucks” and the system that Vince McMahon has set up is “killing the company.”

I want to prove that [WWE’s] creative process sucks. It does not work, it’s absolutely terrible. I’ve said that to Vince, I’ve said that to Hunter, I’ve said that Michael Hayes. I can’t even tell you how their system works, it’s some kind of system of meetings that take place in Stamford, then there’s a home team. There’s writers and producers and production meetings and nobody knows what’s approved and what’s not.

The bureaucratic red tape that you have to go through to get anything approved is crazy! It doesn’t work! It’s killing the company and I think Vince is the problem. And not so much Vince, but whatever the structure that he built around himself probably starting around 2002 after the sale of WCW and this infrastructure of writers, producers and this is what the WWE is and what the product is, and the product sucks. [They have] great talent, amazing talent. None of this is their fault.

If I had a goal with AEW, that’s that if we can prove that Vince’s way sucks. That’s not what I’m going to focus on, because it’s not about competing with WWE. We’re just going to be over here doing our best and putting on our best product. If a byproduct of that is that it pushes WWE to re-evaluate their creative process and it makes Vince – not that he’s going to step aside because we all know that he’s going to die in the chair – but maybe he’ll listen to someone else’s ideas. Maybe he’ll be open to doing it a different way.

There was a lot more said in the interview. Here’s a quick summary via Reddit:

• He knew he wanted to leave the company in July 2018 when he was out with an injury
• Refused to read a scripted promo because he believed it was idiotic/ridiculous while Vince believed it was great
• Talks about the promos he read while feuding with Seth late last/early this year, and how they made no sense, tried to rewrite them and got frustrated when he couldn’t
• He talked about enjoying the Make-A-Wish stuff and how he became an adult in WWE
• Says he thought him cutting the promo talking about Roman’s cancer was distasteful
• Says he felt like walking out on the Raw where he got shots/vaccinated during a promo, and that was the day he 100% knew he was leaving and not coming back
• Vince tried to talk him into saying another cancer remark about Roman, says it was so bad they could have lost sponsors, refused to say it (34 minutes into the podcast)
• Says he was excited to return to wrestling when he was injured, but not excited to return to WWE
• Says if there was no other promotion other than WWE, he still would have left
• Vince “didn’t know” he was unhappy, even with Jon/Dean being open with his frustrations to Vince about scripts
• Was happy to take bumps from Nia, but felt like it was them punishing him for leaving
• They offered him a new contract, he didn’t look at it
• His goal in AEW is to be the best version of himself, looking forward to creative freedom
• Says Tony Kahn is the exact opposite of Vince, likes him and the fact that he’s a huge wrestling fan
• Talks about using social media now that he’s out of WWE
• When he talked to Seth Rollins, Moxley said that he’s a wild animal that’s been domesticated for too long and said it was like the end of Harry and the Hendersons where Harry is set free

h/t for some of the transcripts: Cageside Seats, Wrestling Inc.