From fans, to talent, to management, the WWE locker room had a heavy cloud over it’s collective heads when Daniel Bryan was forced to retire and Arn Anderson was backstage to see that real emotion.
Arn and co-host Conrad Thompson covered the events surrounding WWE Fastlane 2016 on the latest episode of The Arn Show. Bryan’s then retirement was all put on stage at the February 8 RAW in 2016 and emotion was running high as one of the fan favorites bid farewell. However, much was made about two men on stage when Titus O’Neil grabbed the wrist of Vince McMahon in a playful indication to let ladies go first. Matters got out of hand when Vince almost tripped and then shoved O’Neil. It was later reported that O’Neil was suspended for 60 days which would ultimately cause the star to miss his WrestleMania payday.
Arn was asked by Conrad about that particular incident and since The Enforcer was a producer at the time, if he had a take on the matter.
“I tell you what I think happened, Daniel Bryan is beloved by pretty much everybody that loves him, everybody that knows him,” Arn said. “He’s just one of those guys who endears himself to you by being a legitimate guy and I don’t know anybody that doesn’t speak highly of Daniel Bryan. I think the timing of him legitimately having to retire cause of health issues because you saw how it effected him backstage and you saw how it effected 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 and caught him off guard, he almost fell down and I think that embarrassed him. Probably it embarrassed him more than anyone else looked at it and went looked at as it being a comedic moment or something. I think in Vince’s mind it made him look bad cause he almost fell and it pissed him off right away and I think it probably in his mind that was probably a big moment in one of the talent’s careers because Daniel was retiring. I’m thinking he probably thought to himself ‘this was just not a time to be goofing’ and it got out of control like really quick and flamed up really quick. I don’t think there was any ill-intention I just don’t think that Titus was thinking properly when he did it. That’s the only thing I can figure out sorting through the facts.”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
You can tune into the whole episode of The Arn Show below:
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