I'm thinking of this interview that Moxley did on Talk is Jericho a few years back; he criticizes his booking on a certain promo "describing the things [he] did on the way to the arena that day . . . [which are] things that an idiot would do. Like, things along the lines of, like, driving backwards on the street on a unicycle or sharing a pizza with a homeless man on the street just ... weird stuff like that".

I think this is where the meme "it's such good sh*t" comes from, since Moxley mentions it as Vince's response to the writing. Vince says "this stuff . . . is the reason people like you".

I actually enjoyed Ambrose as a guy who would host a talk show with a plant named Mitch as a co-host. A lot of his mannerisms and event just facials suggested a classic dumbass aura, but he seemed to pull a lot of it off with aplomb.

Did Vince get Moxley right in WWE? Does anyone prefer his booking in AEW to WWE?

He's much better in AEW, as opposed to WWE as a singles star.

He wasn't counter-culture, as they were intending in WWE. He spent most of his singles runs playing a goof.

He has his faults. As did all The Shield boys when they got the call up, however each of their strengths masked the other's respective short-comings. And maybe this was where he was at his absolute best - being the unofficial mouth piece/leader of The Shield.

He should have evolved into what Punk is today in WWE. A miserable journeyman with a death wish and delusions of being a legitimate fighter instead of being a goof ball.

But it was different then, and I'd imagine if WWE had Moxley today he'd be fantastic. Especially given the shift in style as we talked about in a WWE thread.

Moxley truly found himself after he left WWE, did the G1 Climax, then went to AEW. Those first few years of post-WWE Moxley were the best and most interesting he's ever been. That's the wrestler he always wanted to be. A rugged, take-no-shit tough guy. I'm not saying Moxley is the best take-no-shit tough guy wrestler, far from it, but it's a more natural fit for him than any other character.

Obviously he had a lot of success in the WWE. He was great in The Shield, and so-so as a singles star. Like many wrestlers, he was able to turn chicken shit into chicken salad. I agree with Vince that he does have a natural aptitude for goofy comedy. Where Vince was wrong is that being a goofy babyface is Moxley's ceiling, the only thing he's good at.

I'm bored of Moxley now. As good as he was in 2019-2021, he never evolved from that and got stale. Overexposed, almost never lost, repetitive matches. His recent work has been uninspired. Recently he won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and had a pretty lame run. Not entirely his fault - he wasn't exactly given NJPW's best to defend against - and lost it back to a rapidly declining Naito. Now he's on a break, a much needed one, but I don't feel excited for when he returns.

I'm not sure the last time I truly enjoyed Moxley. Maybe it was the match with Danielson that led to the formation of the BCC.

He talks a good game which at the time Roman or Seth did not. So he was used right. He was the face of AEW and came across as a bigger bad ass. In both companies 90% of his singles matches are garbage. He is also a strong example why personality should be a higher priority then move set.

I found Mox more entertaining in WWE, since his promos were better there. Must of been a situation of WWE scripting out his promo, and his delivery making them work well.

In AEW, he was entertaining at first, but like a lot of things in AEW, it fizzles out quickly.

Been summed up better by others so I don’t have much to add. I don’t think Vince was right about him, rather he didn’t use him right, something Vince did with plenty of people before Mox.

Story time: years back when Dean Ambrose was WWE Intercontinental Champion, I took my daughter to a WWE house show. The main even was Ambrose vs Miz vs AJ Styles for the title. Everyone was there to see Styles, but by the end of the match the place was 10000% behind Ambrose and popped the roof off when he won.

And it was because it was a house show and that night he was Jon Moxley. I saw what I watched in grainy YouTube videos before he joined FCW and changed his name. I saw what would eventually join AEW. He walked out and kicked the fuck out of both his opponents and the crowd ate it up. 5,000 drunk Saskatchewanians were won over that night, and I am glad he made his money and got an opportunity to become the wrestler he was meant to be.

My daughter also got their picture in the paper which was cool. Video below shows the photos. They’re the first kid you see cheering about 3 seconds in. Photo was taken during AJ Styles’ entrance.

Peak of Mox for me was the Switchblade Conspiracy. Just amazing promos and psychotic ring stuff. Vince really did not get the gimmick at all though so got canned after FCW. But that feud with Regal there was incredible. Mox in WWE I thought sucked. Was a shadow of what he was before, or after. AEW he goes through phases of going through the motions, but still far better than he was in WWE.

Moxley is a weird one. I always find him to be a bit of a try-hard, but I wouldn’t say he’s inauthentic necessarily. It would have been tough for him to be the guy he wanted to be (and, to a large extent, was at the beginning in AEW) in WWE because he lacked the physical profile. Vince saw him as a Mick Foley type and that’s probably right enough, although he probably had Moxley doing too much comedy in the end.

The thing with Vince was he liked a variety show, so he liked comedy. Few people are actually funny. So when Vince finds out you’re funny, God help you. Because not many people can fill that hole. Dustin Rhodes and Booker T had a similar issue.

Ambrose was Sex Pistols, Moxley is Crass.

Something about 'didn't get used right' reminds me of a recent Joe Hendry interview

And I remember TNA management said to me If you feel that you can’t do this, we won’t do it. But if you really want to be a top guy in this business, top talents don’t say no, this is what we need.
-----✄-----
And that really taught me the lesson I think just in time that actually is a top talent. Your job is not to get over under ideal circumstances, it’s your job to get over under the given circumstances.

and I daresay if you ask most WWE talent they'd say they feel they aren't used right, but that's just sort of the nature of being part of an ensemble cast. Like Todd said, part of the greatness/curse of Dean Ambrose is that he could pull off shlocky things other wrestlers can't, and while it's not the best version of him Dean is filling a role in the show that no one else can.

fwiw PG-13 Dean Ambrose can pull this off, and I don't think supermegabadass DEATH JITSU Jon Moxley could have