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Ember Moon Talks WWE Future, Heath Slater on No-Fan Wrestling, Lio Rush-HHH News
May 20, 2020
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
Moon Expresses Doubt of Future in Wrestling
Ember Moon has been out since September with a torn Achilles, and during an appearance on FS1's WWE Backstage on Tuesday, she admitted that she is unsure if she will ever be able to return to in-ring action.
Moon said the following regarding her stats (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Joshua Gagnon):
"I look back at my career in WWE—I've been here five years. I look back, and yeah, I should have been the one to defeat Asuka's streak or, 'Aw, man, me and Bayley from SummerSlam, I wish I'd done more.' The more and more I sit back and look at everything I'd re-do, I think about my injury currently. Realizing that I may have a career-ending injury. I'm coming back from the hardest injury and I might not have a chance to redeem myself of all the things I wanted to do and I wanted to do in my future. It's so hard to look back and regret, when I try to look forward."
Moon is only 31 years of age, but a torn Achilles is a significant injury with a long recovery time. Even if she does return, it is possible she will never have the same explosiveness she once did earlier in her career.
While Ember is uncertain about her future, she made it clear that her goal is still to return to WWE and be better than ever at some point:
"I keep looking forward because this is what I love. This is my passion, this is the only thing I've ever wanted for myself. And I want that opportunity to not look back, but to look forward and be better than ever before. It's so hard to look back. ... I'm going to prove to you guys that I'm worth redeeming those mistakes and those regrets. It's just going to be awhile before I do so."
Moon held the NXT Women's Championship once, but she was never able to beat Asuka. It wasn't until Asuka relinquished the title and went to the main roster that Moon finally won it.
The fact that she never beat Asuka took some of the importance away from the title reign, and she didn't have as much momentum as she probably would have liked when she got called up.
Moon struggled to gain her footing on the main roster and her biggest match to date remains last year's SummerSlam bout against Bayley. The match wasn't bad, but it lagged behind some of the others and didn't have the type of build one would hope for with a title match at one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year.
Ember's WWE run has been far from perfect but she has a ton of potential and WWE fans would undoubtedly love to see her get another shot at showing what she can do on SmackDown or Raw.
Slater Talks Dislike for Wrestling Without Fans
Recently released former WWE Superstar Heath Slater is one of many professional wrestlers who don't enjoy wrestling without fans in attendance.
During an appearance on The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast, Slater expressed his belief that the lack of fan interaction hurts the product overall:
"I hate it. Everyone hates it because the people is what makes it. My goodness! When I was a heel, the best thing was when I would have a dude in a hold and I would hear something. Someone would say, 'Oh, you suck' and I'd be like, 'Oh, you shut your mouth!' I'd just go off on them and that's the best feeling in the world.
"But if there's no one there and I'm going, 'Shut your mouth' then they're gonna be like what's he talking about? Is he okay?"
Both WWE and AEW have been running weekly shows throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but fans have been unable to attend the events due to the guidelines in place.
While a lack of fans has arguably led to improvements in some areas—such as better promos and more outside-the-box ideas like the Boneyard Match, Firefly Fun House Match and Money in the Bank ladder matches at WWE headquarters—the fans are undoubtedly missed.
Slater was one of several Superstars who were released by WWE last month as a cost-cutting measure to offset some of the revenue that has been lost due to COVID-19.
The 36-year-old Slater debuted on WWE's main roster in 2010 as part of the Nexus stable and spent the next 10 years with the company, winning the WWE and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, as well as the 24/7 title.
Slater is currently out of work as a wrestler, but he seems excited to get back to his craft once fans are allowed to begin attending shows again.
Rush Talks Issues with Triple H
Lio Rush found new life on NXT after his run on the WWE main roster was cut short, but Rush divulged that he wasn't always on the same page with NXT founder Triple H.
In an interview with Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda, Rush said that he and Triple H butted heads at times:
"Triple H ... I don't know if it ended on good terms or not because I feel like me and Hunter, we clashed heads a lot. We were always in disagreement as far as what the plan was for me and how he saw me as a character or how he saw me as an asset to the brand.
"I feel like we were just always disagreeing all the time and it sucked because obviously I looked up to Triple H when I was a kid and stuff like that, so it was weird trying to break that separation from being an admirer of his but now, at the same time, I'm an employee of his and he is my boss, so it was hard for me to separate the two and it was kind of disappointing every time I had a conversation with him—but the lack of communication leading up to the initial release was with Hunter."
Rush spent some time on the main roster as Bobby Lashley's manager and actually generated a lot of heel heat, but he was taken off television and sat at home for months amid rumors that he had backstage heat.
He was finally called back in September 2019 and won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship shortly thereafter. Rush dropped it to Angel Garza about two months later, though, and never regained the momentum he had previously.
Rush was among those released by WWE last month due to budget cuts and he is currently biding his time while the coronavirus situation plays out.
At just 25 years of age, Rush could have many good years ahead of him in pro wrestling, especially so because of his combination of athleticism and charisma.
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