Ember Moon Reveals WWE Asked NXT Female Talent To "Dress Sexy" Following 2.0 Revamp

While WWE may have undergone a 'Women's Revolution' in the last several years, the company seemingly wanted to bring back an element of the Divas era following the NXT 2.0 revamp in September of 2021. 

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet about how unhappy she was in WWE in her final months with the company, Ember Moon (Athena) revealed she had to attend meetings in which NXT talent were asked to "dress sexy." 

"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," Moon said. 

"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 p**s 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.'"

Triple H, who was previously in charge of the day-to-day running of NXT, ultimately stepped back from that role after suffering from heart failure in September 2021. He has since returned to the office in his role as Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development.

At the time, WWE were revamping NXT as NXT 2.0, with Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard now providing the overall vision and Shawn Michaels was elevated to handle the day-to-day running of the brand. 

Speaking further about being asked to "dress sexy," Moon revealed some talents were "very uncomfortable" with the request and her unhappiness only deepened as the NXT locker room became filled with "jealousy" and "cattiness."

"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," Moon continued.

"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 b******t' 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 would be able to have any type of positivity and everyone would hate the job that we've all worked so hard to get." 

Moon was released by WWE in November of 2021, only a couple of months after the NXT 2.0 revamp. She has since started using her old indy in-ring name Athena and has performed at several independent wrestling shows in recent months against the likes of Mia Yim and Swerve Strickland. She also recently won the Warrior Wrestling's Women's Title, winning the vacant championship in a Three-Way featuring Shazza McKenzie and Skye Blue. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc.