Since his AEW debut at Double or Nothing last Saturday, Jon Moxley hasn't wasted any time in sharing his criticism and unhappiness with Vince McMahon and the current WWE product.
Moxley went on a full-out rant during a recent appearance on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, where he said WWE's creative process "is absolutely terrible," and that is goal is "prove that Vince's way sucks," while suggesting that the chairman should listen to ideas from other people and "be open to doing it a different way."
Recently, Moxley appeared on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast (h/t Ringside News) and talked about Roman Reigns - his former Shield counterpart. Moxley explained why he thinks Reigns hasn't gotten fully over, as well as the mistake WWE has made in trying to push him to the top.
"I think they definitely, probably hoped that it stopped, when he was in The Shield, everybody loved him, he was the hottest thing, but was booked like a monster. But as soon as (the fans_ realized (he was the guy), then they all decided before hand they were going to turn on him because they don’t like that, for whatever reason. I think Cena did that first and Roman walked into it. They were like, ‘Oh, it’s the Cena thing, again'...
His personality is so great, he’s such a great dude. Everybody loves him, he’s the most lovable guy in the world. He’s the guy everybody gravitates to in the locker room. Just his natural charisma, but they don’t let him be himself. They try to make him—years ago, he was trying to be what they wanted."
Since WWE broke up the Shield in 2014 - when Seth Rollins turned on the group to align himself with The Authority - the company has gone great lengths to push Reigns as its next top babyface.
Related: WWE Superstars Agree With Jon Moxley's Harsh Criticism of Vince McMahon
Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble and headlined WrestleMania four years in a row (from 2015 to '18). Along the way, he's defeated a handful of legends like The Undertaker, John Cena and Brock Lesnar at last year's SummerSlam pay-per-view. But despite all of his accomplishments in the ring, Reigns just hasn't fully won over the WWE Universe.
Moxley makes a strong point about WWE simply not letting Reigns be himself. The promos often feel forced and unnatural for him, whereas other great babyfaces like Cena and The Rock were able to cut their own promos. Maybe if WWE listens to Moxley and lets Reigns be himself - rather than memorize scripts - he will finally get over with the fans once and for all.
What This Means
Many WWE fans, pundits and former superstars have been critical about the fact that superstars are often forced to do the promos assigned to them, rather than have total freedom over what they say. If superstars like Reigns could just say and perform how they want to, things could be a lot better for WWE right now. We can only hope that they'll change it up at some point, because the same old, same old has gotten tiring.