Mojo Rawley Shoots On Disappointing Heel Turn On Zack Ryder

Hamish Woodward

Mojo Rawley turned heel on his partner Zack Ryder in late 2017, ending a two year friendship between the two and starting a disappointing rivalry between the two. Despite being a hugely hyped team during their original run in NXT, the two – who were known as the Hype Bros – never managed any success in NXT or the main roster.

Mojo Rawley spoke to Chris Van Vliet about his failed heel turn and how he and Ryder were never given the platform to succeed, and how his “mini-push” was a failure that was never given the chance to succeed.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Mojo Rawley said;

Everyone knew they were gonna break up [Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder] because we prefaced it for months, but i don’t think anyone knew who was gonna turn on who. That was kind of our saving grace for that and we didn’t really know either Then the thought came down to have me do the heel turn and was all for it. I know they wanted me to get away as far away from the whole “Hype” persona. They didn’t want me even mentioning the word hype at all.

I turned on him and then they aired a WWE.com exclusive, detailing the breakup and then we had our one match on the kickoff of a pay-per-view. When you’re doing a kickoff match you have so many handicaps on it – you can’t swing for the fences and show people what you got. That’s why Zack and I were like “Dude let’s just go at each other on social” and i cut a couple of promos on my cell phone in my garage that got really good traction and he had some great clapbacks as well but that was it.

We turned and then we had the kickoff match and then that was it. They broke it off and then you know i had like one of my classic semi-push where you start to set up the push and then the push never comes. Yeah, you know we had some good moments I would have loved to have done more with it but you know it is what it is you take what you can get and you know at the end of the day you just gotta be comfortable and happy with what you put out there.”

Mojo Rawley was released by WWE in 2021 and has yet to wrestle again for the promotion. He was supposed to wrestle for the AOP’s new promotion in the UK, but that eventually turned out to be a scan. He would stay and sign autographs for everyone who bought a ticket, showing that there is at least one good guy left in wrestling.

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