Seth Rollins surprised fans when he namedropped Jon Moxley during a promo segment on last week’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown while continuing to build his feud with Universal Champion Roman Reigns ahead of their title match at this Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble.
Rollins told Reigns that The Usos prop up Reigns just like he (Seth) and Mox did in The Shield. WWE usually references names they own so it was interesting that they scripted Rollins to say “Mox” and not “Dean Ambrose.”
During a recent interview with TalkSport, Rollins discussed namedropping the former WWE star.
“It’s an just an easter egg, I think, for some of the fans that have enjoyed [The Shield] and stuck around, followed us for years and stuff like that. It would be very easy to tell the story of The Tribal Chief versus The Visionary, that’s a simple story and obvious for those who watch on a weekly basis but if you follow the industry and you pay attention and you know where we came from, you know there was a third guy in the mix.”
He added, “I’m not going to sit here and ignore that history, I’m going to bring that up because I think that’s important. And I think people who care about that appreciate it. It’s one of those things where it was on the tip of my tongue, it made sense, so it came.”
Moxley made it known in interviews after he left WWE that he had issues with the way the company was run regarding its creative, which is why he decided to let his contract expire. Shortly after leaving WWE, he joined AEW before the promotion event had a TV deal and would later become the AEW World Heavyweight Champion.
