Ember Moon Recalls WWE Asking Women To Dress Sexy, Struggles After Triple H Was Gone

Former WWE and NXT Superstar Ember Moon was released by the company on November 4th, 2021, after appearing intermittently on WWE's developmental brand NXT.

Moon, now known as Athena, had previously performed on the Gold and Black brand, between September 2015 and April 2018, before joining the Monday Night Raw roster after WrestleMania 34. She then returned to NXT at Takeover 31 in October of 2020 and would go on to appear sporadically over the coming 12 months.

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Moon would go into great detail about how she was treated, and her feelings around the last stint of her WWE tenure. Moon would detail how the last 4 months of her time in the company, and what she was being told were particularly challenging.

"My last four months was just one of those moments where I wasn't having fun anymore. It started with Shotzi being gone and drafted," Ember said. "I remember thinking — I was sitting at home and I got a phone call saying, 'Hey, we don't want you to be upset, but Shotzi just got moved to SmackDown and she's debuting with Tegan Nox as a tag team.' I was sitting there and I'm getting this phone call about her getting drafted, 'Oh my God, I'm so happy for her,' and then the tag team thing popped up and I was like, 'but we're the tag team and we have merch and we're doing fun things and we had just gotten into our groove with the banter.' They were like, 'Don't worry, we have something for you.' 'Okay, cool.' I remember going to Hunter and he was like, 'I have no clue what's happening, we'll figure it out together.'

Moon was particularly forthcoming in regards to the backstage political culture and environment created within WWE, and how she felt she had to act.

"The problem I had was, some of these new writers were coming from Raw and SmackDown, 'we had no idea you and Shotzi were a tag team.' A lot of WWE backstage is having to play the game", said Moon. "'It's cool, we get it, we're down in NXT. It's not like we were front page (of the website) when we won the titles. That's fine, yes.' You're just having to eat the shit sandwich and smile with shit in your teeth a lot of times. It's all about not making waves."

Following the dissolution of her tag team with Shotzi Blackheart, Moon worked with NXT leader Triple H and staff to point her career in a new direction.

"Me, Hunter [Triple H], and the head writer at the time had come up with doing a heel turn with me because it was new and different. During this process, we wanted to do a losing streak. That was my thought. I see the new faces coming through and part of my job at NXT was to help new talent on TV I love this business so much that I didn't mind. Let me do a losing streak, let me get frustrated, and let me turn. 'This is a great idea.  Then the first match happened and I'm off TV for four weeks. 'Don't worry, we got this.' Then, Hunter disappeared."

Following this, Moon was due to wrestle Sarray on the August 10, 2021, episode of NXT, but was pulled from the bout due to illness. The ambiguity on her role and direction in the company continued to grow, with conflicting messages being delivered by WWE coaches.

"One of the head coaches goes, 'will you do me a favor and work 205 Live with Cora Jade. We like her, she's a sweet girl, we think this will be a fun match, you two are in the main event.' Cool, that sounds great, I'm never going to say no to having a match on TV, regardless of where it's airing. We have a fun banger of a match. They go, 'you're turning in this match, but we want to make it subtle.' They kind of turned me, but they don't, there was confusion about what would happen."

Things seemed to take an upswing following this, after facing Mandy Rose on NXT TV, Moon was given clear instructions in regards to what she hoped would become a clear creative path.

"Then, off TV for three weeks, I have the match with Mandy and they're like, 'We're finally pulling the trigger on this.' I get a note that week saying, 'In two weeks, we need you to dye your hair fire color again, get the red contacts, you're going back to the old Ember Moon character. This is per Vince. You're going to turn heel, but turn heel as your old character. We're trying to get the old music and stuff together.' Alright, great, this is great."

Upon returning to TV with her new look, Moon would work with lead NXT writer Ryan Katz to produce new content for her character but unfortunately continued to face political obstacles and decisions, outside of her control.

"I show up to TV, I'm motivated, just had to wait it out. Ryan Katz and I went and filmed a demo of the vibe that I wanted. Comeback, I get the video ready, I'm ready to show everyone after TV and they're like, 'Hey, we have some bad news. Vince is pulling you off TV indefinitely.' I just sat there and was like, 'What did I do wrong?' 'You did nothing wrong.' 'I've done everything you guys have asked me, I've gone over and above.'I showed up to TV, it's 2 AM, and I'm like, 'I've done everything you've asked me to, I've branched out,'" she added.

This would prove to be one of the final straws for Moon and her decision to leave the WWE, as she would go on to detail her unhappiness at some of the changes being implemented, and things female talent was being asked to do.

"I remember going to my makeup artist and saying, 'I am so unhappy.' We would have to sit through stupid meetings about how we'd have to dress sexy. I remember looking at someone else (and laughing). I cater to children. I'm not about to wear fishnet booty buttcheek shorts because we had a two-hour meeting about how to dress like Mandy Rose. That's not fair. Mandy is absolutely phenomenal and an amazing person, but not everyone is Mandy Rose. I started seeing this downslope as soon as Hunter was gone."

"For the first bit, we didn't know why, we just knew he wasn't there. I got so angry. I was sitting there thinking, 'I did nothing wrong. I didn't piss off Vince.' They take Shotzi away, Hunter is gone. 'You guys promised me this wouldn't happen. You promised I wouldn't be lost in the shuffle. I went on this losing streak to help you guys out and build other talents so I could get a reward,'" she recalled.

WWE and NXT would try to placate Moon's obvious upset, by offering her lesser roles within the company, which would only add to Ember's anger and upset.

"They said 'We still want you to come and help the next generation, maybe teach a class, do some PC lives.' I'm like, 'You're taking me off TV and trying to make me a coach?' I remember laughing. 'If I've done nothing wrong, you can cancel all my flights, I'm not coming to help these people who do not care about what I do. They only care about the paycheck that hits their bank account. They're not passionate like me. I'm not going to come up here and help these people that don't care about what we do when there is no benefit for me, when I've done nothing wrong and I've given you my entire right side of my body, between my elbow surgery and Achilles surgery. I've given you this entire side, for no reward, not even a thank you."

"You want me to coach and take me off TV to coach?' I remember sitting there, I got teary-eyed, and I said, 'I'm not coming up here to coach or do PC shows. I was supposed to come to NXT to repackage and go back to the main roster. That was supposed to be within the year, but I'm still here", Moon added. "'m going home. Cancel all my flights, cancel all my hotels, if you have a flight there and have no creative for me, I'm not getting on the flight. I'm not doing this anymore because I'm going to snap. It's either going to be on you or on a talent. I'm going to go home. If you need me there and have something for me, even then, I need to approve the creative before I hop on the flight'".

Moon continued to elaborate on the struggles she had been facing mentally in the months leading up to this point, and almost the relief she felt having finally expressed these feelings.

"I remember thinking, 'I think I just quit.' For three months I had been saying, 'I think I'm going to quit today.' Then, I actually did, I think. I got really small and quiet — I was yelling because I was so angry. The worst part about this was, that I knew that on some level I was leaving, I had already gone and got an extra bag and kept it in the locker room so I could pack my stuff and leave".

Moon would finally elaborate on the cultural shift that occurred once Triple H had stepped aside from his role and the new dynamics that were taking place between female talents.

"I was so unhappy and could see where it was going between the booty buttcheek meeting and them telling girls to alter their gear to make it more revealing. Some people were very uncomfortable with that and they were like, 'Nope, this is what they want, you have to do it.' It didn't matter how that person felt. This isn't what I signed up for anymore. This isn't about the wrestling or about the art we create in the ring. This is turning into everything I left on Raw and SmackDown.

"The pity parties started forming in the locker rooms, the jealousy, the cattiness, 'why is this person on TV.' I'm just sitting there like, 'I'm an adult, I can't deal with this high school bullshit' but be like 'Guys, it's okay and I'd be that locker room leader because if I didn't it would go into the negative zone and no one be able to have any type of positivity and everyone would hate the job that we've all worked so hard to get", she said.

Since leaving WWE, Moon has gone on to make many notable appearances at Independent shows, including winning the Warrior Wrestling Women's Championship, this past weekend.

You can watch the full interview below. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet, with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription