The WWE career of Titus O’Neil started back when we first him on the original NXT show earlier in the decade, then he had a successful run with Darren Young as the Prime Time Players leading to some tag team gold and now he’s currently in the position of wrestler/manager trying to get his “Titus Worldwide” brand over.
In addition to that, O’Neil is one of the most visible WWE superstars in terms of doing interviews and representing WWE publicly. Don’t forget that he was the Celebrity Dad of the Year too!
O’Neil recently appeared on the Lilian Garcia podcast where he covered his career as a wrestler, his relationship with his mother and public speaking. O’Neil also was asked about his 2016 suspension that led to him sitting at home for 60 days without pay.
The incident occurred when he shoved Vince McMahon on the February 8, 2016 edition of Raw after Daniel Bryan’s retirement speech. Here’s how O’Neil explained it:
“I still don’t understand it. I literally put my hand out and said, ‘Ladies first.’ So I don’t know what the wrong time is to say, ‘Ladies first’ or the right time. It’s water under the bridge. It happened and I took ownership of it regardless if I was right, wrong, or indifferent, or if the situation could have been handled different. It happened. I served my suspension and its over with. It goes back to the fact that I know who I am and I know what I did and I know why I did it and God has rewarded me tenfold.”
You can watch the incident here as well.
It always looked like a playful nudge to me with O’Neil just joking around with Vince in a setting where it was pretty casual after Raw had gone off the air. Like O’Neil said, he just thought he was being polite in letting a woman walk through before Vince, but obviously Vince didn’t see it that way. It was probably an instance where Vince felt he was embarrassed in front of his employees and the crowd, but I don’t think most people saw it as a big deal.
I’m with O’Neil saying he doesn’t understand it. That was one of the most bizarre suspensions in wrestling history.
For more of Titus, be sure to listen to him on our McMahonsplaining Podcast from last month as well.
