Jon Moxley has been doing the rounds to promote his new autobiography, MOX, and during a recent interview with Wrestling Observer Radio, the AEW star reflected on his time as Dean Ambrose in WWE. It's no secret that he hates scripted promos, and that led to him explaining why he'll never even consider doing one again.
"I will never read a script on a wrestling show for the rest of my life. I guarantee you that. Nobody will hand me a script ever again," Moxley stated. "That sh*t ate at me. Promos are my favorite part of wrestling. The first promo The Shield ever did. They handed us a script. I was like, ‘Okay, we’ll play with this. I got some ideas of stuff I want to say.’ They said, ‘No, this is what you’re saying.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but we’re thinking about this.’ Hunter came in and it was awkward."
"It was made very clear to us that this is what we’re saying. We’re reading the script. I remember this feeling in my gut like, ‘Oh no. I made a terrible mistake,' because my favorite part of wrestling is coming up with promos, talking, saying the truth, and relating it to the situation. It’s so much fun and artistically pleasing. I love doing promos, but now that’s taken away?"
Moxley went on say that he eventually just accepted scripted promos were part of being a WWE Superstar, revealing how he did what he could to make the most out of a disappointing situation.
"I went along with it. Over the years you can work with the writers, you can work with Vince, and you get a little more leeway sometimes," he explained. "I feel like over the years, I got good at getting a shi**y script and making it good, reading it well, and changing it a little bit. I got a little leeway. There’s some scripted sh*t that was pretty good."
It's no secret that a lot of current and former WWE Superstars hate this side of things in the company, and there's a good reason AEW promos are praised far more than those in Vince McMahon's company! Giving pro wrestlers a script like this just doesn't bring out the best in them, something that instantly becomes clear any time those in the company are given a little freedom.