Jon Moxley is currently one of the top stars in All Elite Wrestling, but he spent many years working as Dean Ambrose in WWE. When he first joined the main roster he debuted as part of The Shield, and Moxley was quickly introduced to the scripted promos that WWE provides for their talents.
The former AEW World Champion recently appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio to promote his new book, and during the appearance Moxley noted that he had an issue with the scripted promos from day one.
“To answer your question, literally from almost day one. They hand us this f–king promo. It’s the first promo The Shield ever did. They hand us this script and I’m like ‘okay. We’ll play with this. I’ve got these idea of stuff I want to say and whatever.’ They were like ‘no. This is what you’re saying.’ I’m like ‘yeah, but we’re thinking about this and whatever.’ And then it got awkward, and people started looking at each other, writers and [Paul] Heyman. Heyman was there, because we were working with him at time. Hunter came in and it was like awkward and whatever. It was made very clear to us that ‘oh no. This is what you’re saying. You’re reading the script.’ And I remember feeling this f–king feeling in my gut of ‘oh no, I’ve made a terrible mistake. Oh my god.’
“My favorite part of wrestling is coming up with promos and just talking and saying the truth and relating it to the situation. It’s so much fun, it’s so artistically pleasing. I love that sh-t. I love doing promos. But now that’s taken away? Now I just read what’s on the script? Literally on day one. But I went along with it. Over the years, you can work with the writers and you can work with Vince and you get a little more leeway sometimes. I feel like I was really good, over the years, of being given a sh-tty script and making it good, reading it well and kind of changing it a little bit and whatever. I’d get a little leeway sometimes. The script was s**t, but I’d make it pretty good. I actually got really, really f–king at being a WWE superstar, and taking ‘here’s your script. It’s eight minutes, maybe ten’ and making it perfect and nailing all the beats, getting all the hits in. I got really good at that sh-t. But that’s not what I wanted to do.”
Jon Moxley recently advanced to the semifinals in the AEW Eliminator Tournament and he will face Orange Cassidy in the next round. The winner will go on to face Bryan Danielson in the finals at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 13.
H/T Wrestling Inc.
