Jon Moxley Was Not Happy Vince McMahon Had Him Take Jab at Roman Reigns' Leukemia

Jon Moxley opened up about his WWE exit on the Talk Is Jericho podcast Wednesday. Moxley, who went by Dean Ambrose with the WWE, detailed how upset he was during his final weeks with the company and specifically when Vince McMahon made him read a scripted promo taking a jab at Roman Reigns who was recovering from leukemia at the time.

After Moxley was handed a line that he described as “distasteful,” he went right into the room with McMahon thinking and hoping it was was a mistake. Moxley went on to say the promo live after the discussion and immediately after finishing it went, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I just said that.” When asked by Chris Jericho what the line was, Moxley didn’t give specifics but said it was along the lines of “He has cancer, sucks to be him.”

Moxley had made up his mind last summer that he wanted to leave the WWE but added that lines like that and goofy promos involving “pooper scoopers” had him counting down the days he could leave the company. Moxley left the WWE in April.

None of this comes as a shock if you have watched the WWE over the past few years. Nearly all the promos have come across as amateur and forced. In addition, the company has greatly struggled finding interesting storylines and creating characters that the audience can gravitate to. Combining that with how Moxley and others describe dealing with McMahon, it’s not hard to understand why a company like AEW would be appealing to many. Cody Rhodes is on record there will be no scripted promos in AEW, which as Moxley told Jericho, would be better performed by actors than professional wrestlers.

It will be intriguing to watch how much bad blood develops between AEW talents and the WWE over the next few months. It would be stretch to predict a WCW like war, but also certainly not out of the realm of possibility.