Arn Anderson Recalls Vince McMahon Shoving Titus O’Neil On Raw

One of the most bizarre moments in recent years on Raw was when Vince McMahon shoved Titus O’Neil after Daniel Bryan’s retirement ceremony in 2016. It was an odd moment made even stranger when it was announced that O’Neil was being suspended 90 days for unprofessional conduct.

Now, former WWE producer Arn Anderson has discussed the moment, saying he thinks McMahon was embarrassed in the moment as O’Neil almost knocked him down during a very emotional moment. Here is the quote from the ARN podcast, courtesy of Inside The Ropes:

“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 sombre, 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. 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.”

As this moment took place in February, O’Neil was forced to miss WrestleMania with his suspension. He ended up serving 60 days of the 90 day suspension.

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