"I don't know if these guys can even wrestle" - Jon Moxley and Seth Rollins' initial thoughts on former WWE opponents
Akam recently recalled how Jon Moxley and Seth Rollins doubted AOP’s wrestling ability before a match on WWE RAW in 2018.
AOP (Akam and Rezar) joined forces with Baron Corbin in a losing effort against The Shield (Moxley, Rollins, and Roman Reigns) on September 24, 2018. Although the former NXT Tag Team Champions had performed on WWE’s main roster for five months at that point, they mostly competed in squash matches.
Speaking on Renee Paquette’s The Sessions podcast, Akam said Reigns viewed AOP in a similar way to himself due to their backgrounds in sports. In contrast, Moxley and Rollins were unsure if they knew how to work.
“Roman was always like, ‘Oh, these guys are just like me,’ because he had a football background, right?” Akam said. “Jon and Seth were like, ‘I don’t know if these guys can even wrestle.’ Anyways, we had the match with them and you can tell Jon this… Jon comes to the back and goes, ‘Hey, man, you guys are pretty good.’”
And STILL your #RAW #TagTeamChampions... @Akam_WWE & @Rezar_WWE: #AoP! https://t.co/PGCz2tm5hz
Paquette, Moxley’s wife, joked that the former Shield member must have meant his praise because he rarely gives out compliments.
AOP won the RAW Tag Team Championship from Jon Moxley and Seth Rollins
No one is safe around @WWERollins and #AOP.
#RAW @Rezar_WWE @Akam_WWE https://t.co/xh3mcsViRz
Akam and Rezar defeated Seth Rollins in a two-on-one handicap match on November 5, 2018 to win the RAW Tag Team Championship. Jon Moxley, then known as Dean Ambrose, did not participate in the match because he was feuding with Rollins at the time.
Reflecting on WWE’s booking of AOP, Akam added that former RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman wanted the destructive duo to feature regularly on television:
“After that, we had that match and then we did nothing for a couple more months until Heyman took over," Akam continued. "Then Heyman goes, ‘We’ve gotta do something with you guys.’ Because we’re just flying around eating catering, going from city to city, then Heyman had this great idea and that was it.”
AOP worked alongside Rollins as members of his villainous faction between November 25, 2019 and March 9, 2020. The former RAW Tag Team Champions received their releases from WWE on September 4, 2020 because they wanted to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please credit The Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.