Jon Moxley Reveals Issues Working With Brock Lesnar At WWE WrestleMania 32

One of the most underwhelming matches in WrestleMania history was the clash between Brock Lesnar and Jon Moxley (then Dean Ambrose) at WrestleMania 32.

The match significantly underdelivered, and it appeared as if Brock went into the show only looking out for himself, and had no intention of putting on a good match with Moxley.

The man formerly known as Dean Ambrose recently spoke to Wade Keller of PWTorch about a variety of topics, including the challenges of working with Brock Lesnar, and why he feels their 2016 match failed.

Moxley revealed to Keller how he managed to get the match on the “grandest stage of them all” with the former UFC star:

“I got that match because we did a three-way thing for the #1 contender with me, Roman and Brock that actually turned out awesome. And there was a promo for it, and I kinda took it upon myself to be like, ‘I’m gonna get up in Brock’s face. What’s the worst that could happen?’ So I got all up in Brock’s face and I’m trying to portray to him that like, ‘Yeah, you might be the suplex machine guy, but I might stab you. I might stick a pencil in your eye.”

“I bring a different dynamic as an opponent. You’re obviously physically a much different thing than me, but I might stab you’ kind of vibe. So I’m up in his face, whatever, and there’s electricity. The people are like ‘Whoo, this is interesting.’ I’m doing that all on my own. This isn’t scripted, right? But it got over, and there was electricity between us.”

Moxley spoke about how he got ignored in the build-up to the match by writers, producers, Vince McMahon and even Brock Lesnar himself:

“[Lesnar] didn’t wanna be there, I mean he just put in the — and then the week leading up, I’m like — because this thing is a Street Fight. It’s not a match you can just call in the ring. It’s a Street Fight at WrestleMania, so we’ve gotta get stunts approved and set up, we’ve gotta get props for table bumps, or whatever we’re gonna do. I pitched all this stuff to everybody, all the producers and I feel like I’m just getting ignored. Because our match wasn’t important to any of the producers or writers, or Vince. They just gave me enough to give me the match, but they didn’t give me any help to make it a good angle or like, make it a hotter thing people want to see.”

“And [I’m like] ‘Can we do this? Can we do this? Can we, all these different stunts and stuff.’ Like, I’m ready to die in the ring. I’m ready to take the worst — I’m not trying to put Brock through abuse. I’m trying to take the worst beating in the history of the world. I’m ready to be, if he kills me? Great, I’ll go down as a legend. I was ready to do ANYTHING. But in the weeks leading up, the angle was not good, Brock’s not even there half the time, we don’t do anything interesting.”

AEW’s newest signee then spoke to Keller about the difficulties he faced when trying to prepare for what he deemed a “dream match” with someone he thought was his “dream opponent”:

At WrestleMania you have like rehearsals… We had one scheduled rehearsal on like 11 PM Saturday night the day before the show at the stadium. Because he never even came to the hotel, he didn’t get in until late Saturday night. So I’m like, ‘Okay, whatever. That’s pretty late but whatever.’ But we end up not even doing that, because he’s like, ‘We don’t need to do that.”

“I give like every idea I’ve had for the past three weeks that nobody wants to listen to. Brock’s probably not even listening, and he just goes, ‘I mean, I don’t think we need all that stuff. I mean, all that extra gimmicks and stuff. It’s just a simple story. I mean look, you go to Suplex City, you get your hands on a weapon and make a comeback.’ And I’m like, and here’s the thing I kept saying throughout the week. I kept going, ‘What are the weapons?’ And it was like ‘Well, you got a kendo and a chair. Can’t use any tables, because those are saved for other people.’ They’re more important than my match. Can’t you know, no stunts, no nothing, you know? So like, I’m just like, ‘Aw, f**k.’ So I keep hoping that like the day of, something’s going to happen that’s magic.”

The creative genius Moxley was evident when he concluded the interview by telling Wade Keller some of the amazing spots he had thought of and suggested for the match, which were ultimately shot down:

“I was really trying to get thumbtacks approved. And I had Vince, cause I asked him, ‘Can I have one thumbtack bump, please?’ And he said, ‘Maybe,’ with a smiley face. And I thought, ‘Yes, I’m gonna get it.’ So whatever it was at the end, I was ‘And finally … he f**king F5’s me into the f**king thumbtacks or whatever, and I’m on his back, choking him, and he f**king puts me in an F5 in the f**king thumbtacks, and then he doesn’t even bother covering me this time, he just puts me in the head-and-arm choke … he f**king chokes me out, my f**king arm’s up in the air and it’s starting to f**king fade. And then I flip the bird, and then it slowly fades, my arm drops and he chokes me to death after just putting me through the most f**king powerboming me and f**king thumbtacks and F5ing me through f**king every f**king thing.’ I don’t know if it was a good finish, whatever. Jamie hated it.”

“I even had an idea where I was like, ‘What if for like the weeks leading up to it, I start ankle locking people. Like, heel hooking people like Frank Mir did to him. Like I’m studying all of his fights. And I was like ‘I live in Vegas, Frank Mir lives in Vegas. I’ll even go to Frank Mir’s gym where he’s teaching me the way of the heel hook.’ I had all these crazy ideas of cool stuff, but nobody wanted to put any effort into it except me. It was like I was invisible for that whole buildup and the weeks leading up to it, during the week.”

This is really WWE’s loss, as some of the ideas Moxley recalled would have really helped the rather underwhelming bout. If he is able to use his creative mind in a different way with AEW, we could see a whole new Jon Moxley.

Thanks to 411mania.com for the transcription.

• WrestleMania 32
• Brock Lesnar
• Jon Moxley
• wwe

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