Jon Moxley Said ‘I Ain’t F–king’ Letting John Cena Beat The Shield in 2013

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Jon Moxley was not about to allow The Shield become the Nexus.

Moxley wrote in his new book that The Shield was originally supposed to lose to John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus at the 2013 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, but the group approached Vince McMahon to squash the idea. 

“If [we] went out there with Cena and took the f–kin’ schmootz and got pinned like everybody else, we would then become everybody else,” wrote Moxley. “It would kill us. I remember…being in the car with an uneasy feeling in my stomach. ‘I ain’t f–king doing it,’ I said. ‘Whether they fire us or we get Cena’d and killed off…we’re dead either way.'”

Moxley’s book, which came out this week, is littered with his grievances from his time in WWE—ranging from booking, to scripted promos, to his general unhappiness with how the company viewed professional wrestling. 

The Shield was one of the hottest acts in the company heading into the 2013 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, with Moxley, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns positioned as future stars.

However, the same could have been said about members of The Nexus three years prior before a run-in with Cena essentially stripped them of their momentum. Cena’s burial of The Nexus isn’t some wrestling folklore, either; the 16-time world champion has essentially admitted to picking up the shovel.

Losing to Cena—and becoming the latest in a long line of rising stars to drop a feud to Cena in that era—would have ruined The Shield’s momentum. Moxley was luckily able to talk McMahon into having The Shield go over in that match, but it’s clear Mox’s issues with booking weren’t a new thing by the time he departed. 

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