Jon Moxley was this week’s guest on Talk Is Jericho and the former Dean Ambrose talked about his exit from WWE, which he said he knew was coming since last summer.
Moxley says that he’s never been happier since leaving the company and remains grateful for how WWE changed his life, but didn’t want to work there any more due to creative frustrations. During the interview, Moxley brought up some of the verbiage he used during his final WWE interview before The Shield’s Final Chapter WWE Network special, where he said he was ‘cashing out’ and that he won the game and can’t be bought. In hindsight, some will point to the similarities in casino terms and AEW’s Double Or Nothing event in Las Vegas, but Moxley says that monologue served as a way to prevent WWE from burying him on the way out.
“I haven’t said a word throughout this whole process. I didn’t ask them to put out a weird press release or bring it up on commentary, I haven’t said a word. The only thing that was close to a word that I even said was we had the little interview with Michael Cole and I said something at the very end and that was only out of self-preservation because I had a feeling I was getting set up, so I was ready and I beat him to the punch and even that I really didn’t give any information out. I just gave him the line, ‘I walked into this casino eight years ago and now I’m cashing in my chips.’ That didn’t give any information. That was only out of self-preservation cause I thought that was some kind of set up where they’re going to try to like, ‘breaking news! Jon Moxley can’t hack it in WWE so he’s gonna go pursue a career in the minor leagues!’ So I was ready for that.”
(Transcription credit should go to Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone)
Related: ‘Sick’ Nick Mondo On Working With Jon Moxley, Inspirations For ‘Prison Break’ And ’Time’s Up’ Videos
Moxley also said his original vision for his WWE babyface character was “90% John McClane, 10% guys that inspired him—Dusty Rhodes, Bret Hart, big Japan deathmatch guys.” He added that he’d “always gets his ass kicked, but persevere,” but that didn’t come to fruition.
Check out the full episode below:
Related: Jon Moxley On Talk With Vince McMahon, Says He Was Leaving WWE ‘Whether AEW Exists Or Not’
