Jon Moxley Was ALMOST In This Quirky WWE Faction
AEW's Jon Moxley is probably happy The Shield happened instead of this abandoned WWE idea.
It's the 3MB, baby!
Yes, it's true. According to fellow ex-WWE star Heath Slater, Jon Moxley (as Dean Ambrose) was very nearly in the rockstar faction early on. Slater was doing a virtual signing for The Asylum Wrestling Store when he revealed this bombshell.
Heath had originally approached the company about giving him a backing band on TV, but eventual pals Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal weren't on his shortlist. Instead, Slater wanted Johnny Curtis, Ambrose and EC3 as his backup.
WWE disagreed with that trio - they had plans for Curtis (he'd go on to become Fandango), wanted Ambrose to be his own man (this was pre-Shield) and didn't think EC3 would be a good fit for the gimmick Slater was pitching.
Creative sat on Heath's idea for a while. Then, one day, Michael Hayes told the frustrated midcarder that he'd finally be getting that band...with McIntyre and Mahal. Slater was mighty confused by that, because he was kept in the dark until the last possible minute.
Moxley would've been grateful that WWE's writers spared him 3MB. The Shield, obviously, was a much bigger deal.