"I think that embarrassed him" - Arn Anderson talks about Vince McMahon shoving a WWE Superstar on RAW
In February 2016, WWE RAW closed with Daniel Bryan announcing his retirement from professional wrestling (thankfully that didn't last). Many people remember the awkward interaction at the end of the show that saw Titus O'Neil grab Vince McMahon's wrist and get shoved back for his troubles.
O'Neil was later suspended for 90 days, which caused him to miss that year's WWE WrestleMania.
On the latest edition of the ARN podcast, Arn Anderson spoke about WWE RAW's closing moments that night and believed that O'Neil embarrassed McMahon, which caused the shove to happen.
“I’ll tell you what I think happened. Daniel Bryan is beloved by pretty much everybody that loves him, everybody that knows him. He is just one of those guys that endears himself to you as being a legitimate guy. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t respect or speak highly of Daniel Bryan. I think the timing of him legitimately having to retire because of health issues was a- because you saw how it affected him backstage and you saw how it affected the other talent who really cared about the guy. And I think it being such a somber, real moment, that any other day it might not have been as bad but when Titus grabbed Vince by the wrist as he was starting to exit, it caught him off guard. He almost fell down. I think that embarrassed him, probably it embarrassed him more than anyone else looked at it as, you know, it being a comedic moment or something but you just don’t."
Arn Anderson believes Vince McMahon felt Titus O'Neil made him look bad on WWE RAW
Anderson believes McMahon felt he looked terrible because he almost fell on live on WWE RAW, which not only led to the shove, but the WWE suspension of O'Neil as well.
"I think in Vince’s mind it made him look bad, ’cause he almost fell. It p***ed him off right away. I think, in his mind, that was a big moment in one of the talent’s careers, y’know, because Daniel was retiring. He probably thought to himself this was just not a time to be goofing and it got outta control like really quick and flamed up really quick. I don’t think there was any ill tension, I just don’t think that Titus was thinking properly when he did it.”
Do you remember this fateful night on WWE RAW in 2016? Which side do you take in this situation? Let us know by sounding off in the comments section below.
Thanks to Inside the Ropes for the transcription of this podcast.