"They were terrified" - Grayson Waller addresses controversial incident outside WWE
Grayson Waller is one of WWE's rising stars on Friday Night SmackDown. The Australian has made a name for himself in the tag team division alongside Austin Theory. However, earlier this year, the star found himself in a bit of trouble in Australia ahead of the Elimination Chamber PLE in Perth.
Earlier this year, a video went viral ahead of the Elimination Chamber event when a journalist questioned Grayson Waller about the legitimacy of professional wrestling and joked around with the star about fake punches. This didn't sit well with Waller, and the SmackDown star went on a rant.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet on INSIGHT, the former WWE Tag Team Champion addressed the incident and stated he's not a fan of people who disrespect the industry. Moreover, the 34-year-old understood that not everyone was aware of professional wrestling and went along with the act when he confronted the television personality.
"I hate when people disrespect what we do and treat it as a joke. Sometimes when you do these morning TV shows, they're doing 16 interviews a day. They don't know who anyone is. I understand why it happens. [When the studio personality joked about taking a punch] You don't realize what we do. Part of it with me being, I'm going to have some fun with this. It terrified them. When they turned off the cameras, they were terrified," Waller said.
He added:
"But I think it's time that we need to protect what we do. If someone's so disrespectful to your face, I'm not going to sit there and take it!'' [From 38:43 to 39:35]
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Was Grayson Waller punished by WWE for his actions?
In September 2023, Grayson Waller and Austin Theory became a regular act as A-Town Down Under on Friday Night SmackDown. The duo often helped Logan Paul in The Maverick's feud with Kevin Owens and Randy Orton heading into WrestleMania XL.
Notably, Waller got embroiled in a controversy in the lead-up to the Elimination Chamber event, as he called out a journalist who questioned the pro wrestling business. However, the Australian was not punished for it by WWE.
Waller and Theory eventually punched their tickets to WrestleMania XL, where they won the SmackDown (WWE) Tag Team Championship in a Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder Match.
The duo later dropped the title to #DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) on SmackDown. It will be interesting to see what the creative team has in store for Theory and Waller in the coming days.
If you use quotes from the article, please credit Chris Van Vliet and provide an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.