There is just so much left to unpack from Jon Moxley’s over 90 minute interview with Chris Jericho.
Yesterday (May 29), the major fallout from the wrestler formerly known as Dean Ambrose’s chat was
WWE’s current creative process and
how it may be broken. Moxley also touched on a particularity bad piece of material
written for him regarding Roman Reigns’ battle with cancer.
Perhaps lost in the shuffle was Ambrose’s feud with former Impact wrestling star EC3. The rivalry was brief, with Ambrose playing a heel just days after WWE sent out a strange press release announcing he was leaving the company.
The storyline blew up in WWE’s face, and according to Moxley it was unfair for EC3 and may have cost him a shot at climbing the ladder as a member of the main roster.
Jericho: Did you feel at any point, besides the few times you mentioned with Nia Jax, that they tried to bury you in any other way?
Mox: Well... so after that they did the weird press release, then they put me against EC3, debuting from NXT. Great talent, great friend of mine, excited to work with him. They have EC3 come in as a babyface, defeat me in two minutes. I dunno if this is before or after the press release, uh... it’s at like the same time. The crowd does not like this, because it’s transparent what’s happening and this is not a... this is not good for EC3, because now he’s gonna get the backlash.
So it was an unfair position for him to be put in. So we get to that weekend, I’m working with EC3 on house shows, now I’m the biggest babyface on the show. I’m a heel, I’m thumbing him in the eye, I’m making fun of the town, it doesn’t matter, they’re...
Jericho: Because you’re the bigger name and you’re the underdog now.
Mox: Yeah, they’re violently rejecting him as a babyface and they’re cheering the hell out of me. It’s got nothing to do with him, it’s like an anti-WWE...
Jericho: Yeah, you’re a martyr.
Mox: Yeah so... then they go, talking to the writer by text and he’s like “You’re gonna work with EC3 again, he beats you in two minutes again,” and I was like, I couldn’t help it, I was like, “Fine, that’s cool. Am I the only one that sees the inherent problem in this?” And even the writer knew, was like “Oh, that it’s making you a babyface or looks like we were burying you and that’s backfiring?” and I was like, “Yep, that stuff, that’s what I was talking about” and he was like “Yep, I know.”
But it’s Vince, “He’s got you, he’s determined!” So by the time we get to that Monday there are, from what I understand, the reports from the house shows, the producers telling him what happened, and he’s pissed. Apparently he’s like, mad about this. That like, god forbid, so sorry that the fans, who I’ve busted my ass for for years, might be upset at the fact that you want to bury me on the way out, y’know, like... Sorry, dude, y’know?
