WWE News: Jon Moxley Shares Roman Reigns’ Reaction To ‘Suffering Succotash’ Promo From 2015
Ever since his shocking appearance at All Elite Wrestling’s first-ever event, Double or Nothing, on May 25, Jon Moxley — formerly Dean Ambrose in WWE — has been making the rounds of the wrestling podcast scene. After he took several potshots at his former employer on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho, Moxley made an appearance last week on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast, where he talked about several topics. These included the fan reaction to the massive push his former Shield stablemate, Roman Reigns, received after the faction disbanded in 2014, as well as Reigns’ apparent dislike for an early-2015 segment where he was asked to make a Looney Tunes reference in his promo.
As quoted by Wrestling Inc., Moxley discussed the “polarizing” response Reigns received when he was given a big babyface push, as well as WWE’s apparent attempts to keep booking him as the company’s top good guy despite the boos he was receiving from fans. The former WWE Champion recalled how Reigns was “booked like a monster” and got good fan reactions when he was part of The Shield, but got turned on by fans when WWE started pushing him as a singles performer. This, he said, was because they saw Reigns’ push as a repeat of how the company forced them to cheer for John Cena as its top babyface.
In addition to commenting on Reigns’ unpopularity with fans before he went on hiatus late last year to deal with the return of his leukemia, Moxley also recalled how “The Big Dog” didn’t like it when WWE chairman Vince McMahon forced him to include the words “suffering succotash” in one of his 2015 promos.
Jon Moxley Says Roman Reigns Didn't Want To Do "Sufferin' Succotash" Line https://t.co/u13m4bfuW8
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) June 1, 2019
“Vince had him say ‘suffering succotash,’ ya know what I mean?’ Moxley told Keller, per Wrestling Inc.’s quotes.
“I remember that day. You think he wanted to say that? No. He went in there and came out and was like, ‘He wants me to say suffering succotash,’ and I remember kind of laughing like, ‘Dude, you can’t say that.’ He’s like, ‘He wants me to say it. Is there a cool way to say it?’ I’m like, ‘What if you looked at the camera and said, well, that wasn’t easy to say,’ or something, I don’t know.”
As recalled by Cageside Seats in 2018, the aforementioned Reigns promo was directed toward his then-rival and fellow Shield alumnus Seth Rollins, and it did indeed have him acknowledging toward the end that the Looney Tunes-inspired insult was not easy for him to say. The outlet’s Geno Mrosko added that it was “mind-blowing” to look back at how Reigns was given such a “horrific” promo to read, but also acknowledged that he had tremendously “grown as a performer” in the years that followed.
Aside from recalling his time alongside Roman Reigns, Jon Moxley also took more shots at WWE and Vince McMahon during his appearance on Keller’s podcast. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Moxley said that McMahon is the biggest “problem” with WWE at the present as the company deals with poor ratings and arguably unappealing storylines despite having a deep and talented pool of wrestlers.
