Jon Moxley Calls Vince McMahon A "Madman," Talks Scripted Promo Pressure In WWE
"I’ll tell you what pressure is, pressure is having a two-page script by a 74-year-old madman."
A recent interview with SiriusXM's Busted Open Radio saw AEW World Champion Jon Moxley touch on a number of different topics related to his career, including his thoughts on WWE's scripted promos.
"If I had to boil it down to one thing that drove me crazier than anything, it was the fact that I got handed a script," Moxley said when asked. He added that he'd even heard scripted promos talked about in developmental, though he always thought it was a turn of phrase, not an actual script. When he got to television and found out he had lines to read, it blew his mind.
"I thought it was like, a suggestion, like they were just filling in words on the runsheet," Moxley said. "I'm like, 'I got some cool ideas, we can say this or that, we go this new gimmick we're' doing,' and the writer is like 'oh no, this is what you're going to say.'"
On how Vince McMahon pressurises talent by expecting them to read scripted promos:-
"I'll tell you what pressure is. Pressure is having a two-page script written by a 74-year-old madman that makes no sense to you, that's going to make you look stupid, and you're on worldwide TV live. You got to memorise every single line and somehow pull it off and not look like a total jack*ss. That's pressure. And a lot of times I did pull that, a lot of times I didn't, but I'll never have to be in that situation again. Now I just get to be me, it's a nice feeling."
WWE's heavy scripting is a long-standing complaint, particularly from those who have worked through it, like Moxley. It's safe to say AEW's increased freedom is more to his liking...