How WWE and AEW Almost Wasted Their Biggest Stars
Does the Tribal Chief character work as well as it currently does without the preceding years of “Big Dog” Roman Reigns? It does not. Believe that.
Does the Continental Champion Jon Moxley become AEW’s heart and soul without the preceding years of Deathrider fatigue? It does not. Because Jon Moxley is a professional who gives a shit.
Despite starting and seemingly ending on two opposite sides of the professional wrestling scene, the storied careers of Jon Moxley and Roman Reigns parallel each other in surprising ways. Both endured horrendous creative for years before betting on their own brand. Both headliners were the villainous brutes to overcome in their respective companies’ marquee match of the year. More importantly, both Jon Moxley and Roman Reigns never left their roots.
Jon Moxley made a name for himself through his deathmatches in CZW, something that has undoubtedly carried over to AEW. His headline bouts with both Kenny Omega at Revolution 2021 and Hangman Adam Page at All In 2025 show that even on a grand stage in front of tens of thousands of people, Jon Moxley still works best covered in a crimson mask. Roman Reigns was an athletic powerhouse during his college years playing defensive tackle at Georgia Tech. However, the head of the table found more success transitioning to the family business of wrestling. Whether it was the facial expressions his rivals did not see or the freight train heading straight for their abdomen that they did see, Roman Reigns captivated the fanbase with ease.
While in the big 2026 it can undoubtedly be said that both of these Shield brethren are Hall of Fame bound, there were certainly periods where they risked that reputation.
In the summer of 2024, Jon Moxley made his return to television with a very clear intention. In his mind, AEW was infected with a virus of complacency, and he was going to be the one to light the boiling fire to kill it. At WrestleDream 2024, Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson for the Men’s AEW World Championship before sealing it in a briefcase. The message behind this action was that the fans and the AEW locker room did not deserve to even look at the championship because it represented what the company should be; not what it currently was.
Being completely candid, at the time I was very interested in where this storyline was headed. By this point in AEW’s history, Jon Moxley was already established as the brand’s father figure. Therefore, if anyone had to spearhead a storyline where they had to look at the roster and “teach them a lesson” it was him.
However, for a full calendar year the Deathriders storyline would compound the sense of complacency in AEW. It started well enough as Moxley defended his title against Orange Cassidy at Full Gear 2024. If Jon Moxley is the abusive father figure for AEW, Orange Cassidy is the chill uncle that you can run to in the middle of the night. In the midst of all this however, Jon Moxley never cut a promo that explicitly stated the Deathriders’ intentions. Every promo was on the frills of something substantial, a possible wake-up call to the locker room that was legitimately struggling on screen, but would ultimately settle for vague promises of deserved punishment. The fans tuned out as the main championship storyline had a gaping hole in its limp heart. Speaking of limp, the following winter saw Jon Moxley start a program with Adam Copeland that controversially main evented Revolution 2025 over a legitimate wake up call to AEW’s Women’s Division in “The Hollywood Ending” Toni Storm vs. Mariah May. Going into the spring, the Owen Hart Tournament carried the company with the two feuds between Will Ospreay vs. Hangman Adam Page and Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Mone. The Deathriders were relegated to a hollow feud with the Young Bucks against the Ops, which sounds about as flat as it was.
In a paradoxical way that only wrestling can manage, all of this ill will with the fanbase was folded back into the storyline of Hangman Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley at All In 2025. Not only was Hangman ridding AEW of the tyrannical year-long rule of the Deathriders within the storyline, but he was freeing the fanbase of the storyline that took a year to tell. Only post-All In 2025 is the fanbase able to see what Jon Moxley’s vision for the Deathriders storyline was, simply because he got to tell it in 2026.
In a similar vein, Roman Reigns had (has?) a tyrannical rule over the main event scene ever since the breakup of the Shield in 2014. The root issue with the Roman Reigns character pre-Tribal Chief was that there was no deeper motivation other than wanting to be at the top. There was no grit to his struggle, no sense of meaningful adversity, and no charisma to differentiate him from the rest of the roster. His never-ending feud with the authority was a blatant copy and paste from the Austin-McMahon feud down to the involvement of the controversial (putting it lightly) Vince himself. Much in the same way that Moxley had poorly timed wins over fan favorites like Orange Cassidy and Swerve Strickland, Roman Reigns had his hand raised over the likes of AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan (never heard of him), Dean Ambrose (never heard of her), Kevin Owens, and most infuriating of all Braun Strowman. In retrospect, the emphasis of Braun Strowman seems odd however, he was genuinely on a hot streak at the time being. Braun Strowman will go down in the “Summer of” history books right there along with Mr. Kennedy, Ryback, and LA Knight.
Speaking of promos with vague promises, Roman Reigns was no more superficial and one dimensional than when he stood across from John Cena on August 28, 2017. “…a cheap ass, corporately created John Cena bootleg!…It’s called a promo kid, and if you wanna be the big dog, you’re gonna have to learn how to do it… I am still here because you can’t do your job!”
It was clear as day to anyone who would bat an eye. Roman Reigns the Big Dog was not working. What was truly heartbreaking however was that between the ropes and on the mic, Roman was definitely improving. His Extreme Rules 2016 bout with AJ Styles was refreshing at a time the company desperately needed it. The SummerSlam 2017 fatal four way with Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, and Samoa Joe would not be the same without Roman’s dissection of Brock Lesnar through relentless superman punches. Roman Reigns was a fish out of water across from John Cena in a main event promo segment, but it takes genuine courage to open the RAW after WrestleMania 33, walk straight down to the ring after “retiring” the Undertaker the night before, and simply soak in the ire of the crowd for 15 straight minutes.
Something that I do not think that is brought up enough during this period of intense backlash with Roman Reigns is how he was a genuine leader backstage. From all accounts at the time, Roman was a big factor in the gradual shift towards a healthier, safer, and less toxic backstage atmosphere. In another paradoxical fashion, the locker room understood the immense challenge that Vince McMahon was putting on Roman’s shoulders especially with his inexperience. However, Roman never had an outburst, never went off script, and never put other people down to get ahead. The main event paychecks definitely helped cushion the blow; however, being candid again, I remember my 13-year-old self thinking at the time, “How in god’s name does he deal with such negative crowd reactions every single house show?” The WWE schedule was still insanely rough at the time with house shows, so Roman was breaking his body day in and day out, making towns by rental cars, and keeping up with the ever-fleeting whims of Vince McMahon. However, he still would live by his imminent mantra “Wreck everybody and leave.”
Diving deeper into the psyche of Roman Reigns at the time, including his lack of wrestling experience prior to WWE, the only two things that Roman Reigns would understand going into 2020 regarding wrestling is brotherhood and winning. For some reason, this deranged old man believes that Roman Reigns is the ticket to success in this company; therefore, Roman himself must keep up appearances or else the company goes under. Combine this message with his tendency to rely on brotherhood and family, suddenly the Tribal Chief character makes a lot more sense. However, that through line falls apart if viewed through the lens of solely real life or solely kayfabe. Only in the meshing of the two realities does the Tribal Chief character shine through, which is what makes it so interesting to begin with. Folding in the reality of the fanbase despising the Big Dog character, looping in the relentless importance of Roman in the main event scene, and circling back to his reliance on brotherhood; the Tribal Chief is truly a one-of-a-kind creation. A fitting description for the head of the TKO era.
Ultimately, the careers of Jon Moxley and Roman Reigns are a testament to the fact that professional wrestling is at its best when the performer and the character become indistinguishable from one another. The Big Dog was not a failure because Roman Reigns lacked the ability to be a star, just as the Deathriders were not a failure because Jon Moxley lacked the ability to lead a locker room. Both were failures of direction, of creative vision, and of an industry that seemingly forgot what made these men special to begin with. Jon Moxley and Roman Reigns showed that the same person in the CZW and FCW arenas were worth betting on for the AEW and WWE stadiums.
