Details on Vince McMahon's reaction after botch caused champion to lose title on WWE SmackDown
Former WWE referee Mike Chioda has recalled how Vince McMahon reacted positively to R-Truth accidentally winning the United States Championship.
Shinsuke Nakamura was supposed to retain the title against R-Truth on the January 29, 2019 episode of WWE SmackDown. However, due to a miscommunication with Chioda, Truth unexpectedly won the match to become a two-time United States Champion.
Speaking to James Romero of Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Chioda said Truth was at fault for the title change. He also revealed that WWE’s Chairman “loved” the surprise outcome.
“Vince loved it,” Chioda said. “R-Truth tells me the wrong f***ing finish. ‘You said you were only getting schoolboyed once!’ And he was like, ‘Oh, my bad, dawg, I’m sorry, man.’ He had the US title or something, 24-hour title… US title, I think. So it was kind of funny. I thought I was gonna get a bunch of heat coming back and Vince was like, ‘That was phenomenal, I loved it!’ I’m like, ‘What? Okay, great.’”
The finish to the match saw R-Truth roll Nakamura up with a schoolboy. Chioda counted to three and signaled for the bell to ring, bringing an abrupt end to Nakamura’s two-day reign as United States Champion.
Truth immediately defended the title in an impromptu match against Nakamura’s rival at the time, Rusev.
Vince McMahon did not allow R-Truth to keep the US title for long
Although he enjoyed R-Truth’s win, Vince McMahon only allowed the popular superstar to hold the United States Championship for 35 days.
R-Truth, who was aligned with Carmella at the time, hardly appeared on WWE television after winning the United States Championship.
The veteran superstar’s reign ended on the March 5, 2019 episode of WWE SmackDown. Samoa Joe won a Fatal 4-Way match, also involving Andrade and Rey Mysterio, to take the United States Championship from R-Truth.
Please credit Wrestling Shoot Interviews and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.