Jon Moxley: Triple H Buying Indies For NXT Was "A Bad Idea"
"If they signed Daniel Bryan at 21, he never would’ve become Bryan Danielson."
The halo of steam around Jon Moxley's head continues to evaporate, as he completes the process of letting out years of frustrations regarding his ex-employers.
The former Dean Ambrose took aim and promptly obliterated WWE with his post-Double or Nothing podcast on Talk is Jericho, lambasting the creative procedure within the company for completely destroying his love for pro-wrestling. Several days removed from his sensational New Japan Pro Wrestling debt, Moxley has again spoke out against the industry's top dogs, this time in a sit-down piece with 25 Years Later.
Though Triple H has somehow managed to carve out a reputation as WWE's good guy, working tirelessly against the machine, Moxley mused that the NXT honcho's magpie tactic of picking the best independent talent for the company is not good for the business as a whole:
Once I was on the main roster and NXT started, which I wasn’t a part of, every week Triple H was taking an Instagram selfie with some indie guy. I don’t know if he was trying to make himself look cool and get some indie cred or what, or make NXT cool. He basically started buying the indies. I remember thinking that it might not be a good idea. Then where are all of these good ideas going to come from? If they signed Daniel Bryan at 21, he never would’ve become Bryan Danielson and you never would’ve had WrestleMania 30. If they signed me at 21, I never would’ve become anything good. I had to develop first before getting brought in.
Moxley further drew comparisons between Triple H's acquisition and father-in-law Vince McMahon's national expansion during the mid-'80s:
Buying up all of the indie scene was the same as Vince buying up all the territories back in the day. There’s nobody left to cherry pick for talent. It’s amazing that even though they bought up the indies that it has repopulated itself stronger than ever. Makes you very optimistic about the future of pro wrestling.
Shaking off the corny tag he picked up in WWE as thoroughly as possible, Mox also said he wanted to help make wrestling cool to watch again, rather than a complete embarrassment:
I feel like myself, the entire AEW roster and all of the fans are the same team, reaching for the same goal, to make wrestling awesome. To not be embarrassed to tell people you’re a wrestling fan because they’d say to you “oh that show with fart jokes and they poop on each other or whatever the f*ck happens over there anymore”. If you’re a wrestling fan and you show someone some things from WWE, you’d be embarrassed. You’d want to bust out old VHS tapes to show them why you’re a wrestling fan because this isn’t it. I want people to be wearing an AEW shirt and have someone say “Oh you’re a wrestling fan, f*ck yeah, me too”.
We don't think anyone is embarrassed to say they're a Jon Moxley fan right about now.