How Vince McMahon reacted when Christian Cage received clearance to wrestle
Wrestling legend Christian has revealed that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was “very happy” to hear that he had been cleared to wrestle again in 2020.
Christian was forced to retire from in-ring competition in 2014 due to multiple concussions. Following the return of his tag team partner, WWE Hall of Famer Edge, Christian appeared in several WWE segments in 2020. In January 2021, he competed in his first official match in almost seven years as an entrant in the Royal Rumble.
Despite making his comeback in WWE, Christian has now decided to join rival company All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He said on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast that Vince McMahon knew he had been cleared to return in September or October of 2020.
“I kind of floated it out there before that to Vince that I had been cleared. You know, he was very happy about it. We had a couple of good conversations about it. I said, ‘There’s still some work to do but we’ll see where we get to at this point and kind of move forward from there.’"
“I knew that I still wasn’t ready to get back at that point. That was probably end of September, October, I knew there was still some work to do, but I was much closer than I was in July.”
As Christian alluded to, he competed in an unsanctioned match against Randy Orton on WWE RAW in June 2020. The match quickly came to an end when Ric Flair hit Christian with a low-blow, allowing Orton to follow up with a Punt Kick. The Viper then pinned his opponent to win the 60-second match.
Christian is now known as Christian Cage in AEW
Christian Cage was revealed as AEW’s “Hall of Fame worthy” new talent at Sunday’s Revolution pay-per-view. The two-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion signed a contract in the middle of the ring before walking to the backstage area.
He also told Renee Paquette that he held cordial talks with WWE over a new deal. However, he wanted to listen to AEW’s offer after speaking with fellow AEW star Jon Moxley.
Please credit Oral Sessions and give a H/T to SK Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.