Why did Dean Ambrose (aka Jon Moxley) leave WWE?

Before Jon Moxley was dominating the competition in AEW, he was Dean Ambrose in WWE. The Lunatic Fringe was with the Stamford-based promotion for almost a decade but decided to end his run after creative differences.

Dean Ambrose is one of the superstars who made a monumental and dominant debut in 2012 as part of The Shield. He was a part of the stable for two years. After the group disbanded, he had an interesting singles run as The Lunatic Fringe. Still, it was quite noticeable that the company focused on Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. Unfortunately, the state of his character didn't improve in the later years, and he left in 2019. In that same year, he joined AEW as Jon Moxley.

What motivated Jon Moxley to jump ship?

In May 2019, Jon recalled his time in WWE while on Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho podcast. Moxley said that although he was grateful for his time in the Stamford-based promotion, he was so frustrated with the creative process that he became depressed, physically sick, and felt so bad that he was looking up symptoms on "WebMD."

He continued by criticizing WWE's creative process by saying it doesn't work, it's terrible, it's killing the company, it didn't provide the freedom for his character to develop, and Vince McMahon and his structure was the problem. Moxley added that promos used to be his favorite part of wrestling, but he ended up hating them as he was no longer entertaining fans with stories and was only trying not to look like an idiot.

Which promo did Jon Moxley (FKA Dean Ambrose) regret the most?

Dean Ambrose (AKA Jon Moxley) as part of The Shield

In 2017, The Shield reunited briefly but returned to being singles stars the following year. In that same year, Roman Reigns announced that he needed time off as his leukemia returned, which the then-Dean Ambrose mocked on RAW.

After Roman announced his leukemia, Dean betrayed Seth on that same night, officially ending The Shield reunion again. Moxley would cut promos the following weeks, and on one instance, he used Reigns' sickness by saying the latter got what he deserved.

In the same Talk is Jericho appearance, Mox said he immediately regretted mocking Reigns' health. However, Vince pitched another line for him to say the following weeks, which Moxley said was much more and could result in somebody getting fired.

What appeared to be the final straw that caused Dean Ambrose to leave the WWE?

In the same interview, the former superstar expressed that he thought about walking out of WWE in November 2018 after Vince McMahon made him do a segment where he received a rabies shot to "inoculate himself" from fans.

It would be interesting to see if Jox Moxley will ever return to WWE, especially with new management now involved.