Backstage Talk on WWE’s Reason for the Jon Moxley vs. Nia Jax Feud, Reaction to Moxley Being Unhappy

We’ve noted how Jon Moxley spoke out about why he left WWE this week during a “Talk Is Jericho” interview with Chris Jericho. The interview with the former Dean Ambrose became the most-downloaded Jericho podcast in the history of his show, within 10 hours.

Regarding WWE’s reaction to Moxley’s unhappiness, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that there was a feeling within WWE, at least among some, that there’s nothing they could do because Moxley is one of those guy that you can’t make happy, and that’s just what it was going to be.

Meltzer noted that time will tell if that theory is true, as we could find out that Moxley is unhappy in AEW, but it could be the opposite. Meltzer pointed to how Matt Riddle had a reputation of being miserable when he was working MMA with UFC and Bellator, and there was a feeling that Riddle would continue to be unhappy wherever he went. However, Riddle found happiness working the indies of pro wrestling, and is currently happy in NXT.

In other Moxley news, Meltzer noted that while Moxley did not say this in the interview, WWE began his feud with Nia Jax as a way to bury him. The reason the feud was pulled was because there was a feeling that if they buried him with Jax, then it could have a reverse effect and he would become a martyr to the fans. This indicates WWE did want to bury Moxley in a bad way on his way out, but they may have backed off a super burial because it would have made him a martyr and super-hot when he left the company, and that’s what ended up happening anyway when he debuted for AEW last weekend.

We noted before how Jax vs. Ambrose in an “Intergender Special Attraction Match” had been advertised for a February 22 WWE live event from Jonesboro, Arkansas, following the face-off between Ambrose and Jax on WWE TV. The match never happened and it was reported that WWE remained open to the idea, but that it just wasn’t happening at that live event, indicating some sort of scheduling issue, not a creative issue with the match. Jax spoke about the match in early April during an Inside The Ropes interview, and claimed the match didn’t happen due to scheduling problems.

“Unfortunately my schedule was messed… they didn’t have the schedule right,” she claimed. “And I have Total Divas work that I had to go to. So, it was more of like, the scheduling was off and we couldn’t make it work.”

Jax also joked that of course Ambrose is scared of her. “He’s the one who asked for it to be scrapped, just kidding,” she joked.