WWE Star Reportedly Suspended

[Reflection]

Just poor timing... Vince was probably frank and friendly with Titus backstage, likely because of the charity/make a wish-like stuff that he's been doing, and Titus thought they were close. But sometimes it turns out that you are not close enough after all. Must have been awkward as hell for Titus, for being totally put in his place in front of everyone, and I'm sure he will remember it for a long time.
Vince pushed Titus and pulled his arm back so harshly that an unsuspecting Titus went from the left side of the ramp to halfway towards the right side. Triple-H and Stephanie looked pretty serious too, by the end of the clip. When there are no fans and no cameras, that's one thing. But you can't ruin Vince's gimmick in front of so many people.
I feel bad for Titus. It's an unfortunate and embarrassing situation to be in.

 

[stingray11214]

The Network feed was still rolling. Titus screwed with a script while on the air. It was DBry's moment, not Titus'. Though the arm grab was probably playful, it should have been done later when the cameras were not rolling. Though I think the 60 days is much, he could have been fired like Finlay was.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Show us on the doll where Titus touched you Vince.

It seems incredibly odd for someone like Vince to do that, especially since he's often joked around with talent, even wrestling with them in a sense. When this happened it was after RAW went off the air, it really shouldn't be a big deal and I can't imagine that is the only reason why Titus would get suspended. For that to be the only reason Vince would've had to have been in the absolute worst mood of his life for him to suspend Titus for only that. There has to be more to the story than that, if it was only that at worst Titus would have been scolded backstage afterwards.

 

[Miko]

This is almost certainly a sensitive race issue and should be treated as such

 

[stingray11214]

This is almost certainly a sensitive race issue and should be treated as such

WOW! Only here could screwing with a storyline become a race issue. Just wow. Titus messed with a storyline while ON THE AIR! How is THAT a race issue?

 

[wwe fan2009]

^ exactly, sure it was off tv, but still on the network. he had no reason to grab Vince's arm that hard. he deserves what he got. dont break the rules.

 

[Jane]

I honestly think it's justified. Breaking character while still live makes Vince look bad and screwed up an emotional segment. A lot of people were discussing this instead of Bryan, which is unfair considering what a major moment it was for him.

 

[Mustang Sally]

^ exactly, sure it was off tv, but still on the network. he had no reason to grab Vince's arm that hard. he deserves what he got. dont break the rules.

For that matter, maybe Vince tried to yell at Titus backstage after the incident....and the suspension resulted from what Vince heard in return.

 

[rmp0012002]

I heard they pulled the whole Bryan segment off wwe.com and the network. Don't know if that's true. Since the WWE is anal about everything being scripted and every shot set up I could see Vince being pissed that someone interfered with his walk footage. I can't see 90 days for that but Vince and crew can be some strange people at times.

 

[justinept]

I honestly think it's justified. Breaking character while still live makes Vince look bad and screwed up an emotional segment. A lot of people were discussing this instead of Bryan, which is unfair considering what a major moment it was for him.

Breaking character? Oh come on... Vince McMahon and The Authority was doing the Yes chant. Vince, a heel, bear huggd Daniel Bryan. Jericho was wearing a #SocialOutcasts t-shirt. Kevin Owens was applauding on stage. I'm pretty sure Cody Rhodes was out there AS Cody Rhodes. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - people are smart enough to know when the WWE is pulling back the curtain and letting fans in. This was one of those occasions.

 

[wwe fan2009]

I honestly think it's justified. Breaking character while still live makes Vince look bad and screwed up an emotional segment. A lot of people were discussing this instead of Bryan, which is unfair considering what a major moment it was for him.

it is totally justified. Titus broke the rules, when you break the rules you get in trouble. His punishment is justified.

 

[wewanttables]

They were discussing this because the WWE made news by doing this suspension. The part of this story that bothers me the most is that he showed up at Smackdown and was informed. If this would have been an instance worthy of the same punishment as a second time PED offense, then someone in management should have brought this up to him before he left Seattle. So either management was awful or Vince stewed on this the next day and let it bother him so he acted petty. We all know the stories of Vince's ego. I do think that this incident suggests that Vince is tone deaf at times. Suspending a well liked black performer during Black History Month for what is seen as something minor looks bad on WWE. People are going to assume, right or wrong, Titus's race played a part in the punishment. That is on management for their handling of this issue.

 

[Softcore Holly]

Breaking character? Oh come on... Vince McMahon and The Authority was doing the Yes chant. Vince, a heel, bear huggd Daniel Bryan. Jericho was wearing a #SocialOutcasts t-shirt. Kevin Owens was applauding on stage. I'm pretty sure Cody Rhodes was out there AS Cody Rhodes. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - people are smart enough to know when the WWE is pulling back the curtain and letting fans in. This was one of those occasions.

Perhaps character is the wrong word, role might've been a better choice. Titus' role in that moment was to stand in the background mostly unnoticed and instead he put himself in his bosses' spotlight, not smart. Now perhaps a long suspension is overkill as a punishment and it's possible that he'll come back sooner once people had time to calm down, but it was a really, really dumb move on Tidus's part and considering how low Tidus has to be on the totem pole part of me thinks it could've been a lot worse.

 

[TStorm]

Whatever the situation might be, the tweet from Titus shows that he understands well enough that what he did was stepping out of line in some way. While 60 days seems a bit much in my opinion, if he understands that he was wrong in the situation, there isn't much more that can be said on the situation.

I do however agree with Foley on this one:

@RealMickFoley
Hang in there @TitusONeilWWE - I feel in my heart that something good will come out of this.

Let's see where this goes, but there is certainly hope, you're going to make mistakes sometimes, but as long as you learn from those mistakes, things will get better.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

So to further add to the story, Vince suspended Titus to quote "send a message to the locker room."

Apparently a lot of guys have been stepping out of line and acting up and acting unprofessional lately, and Vince has had enough, so he made Titus the fall guy.

I'm not here to say that what Titus did was right or wrong, or that the suspension is right or wrong, but clearly Vince wanted to send a message and the message was sent loud and clear, fall in line or face the consequences.

http://www.dailywrestlingnews.com/b...uspended-titus-oneil-wwe-talents-misbehaving/

 

[Azane]

So to further add to the story, Vince suspended Titus to quote "send a message to the locker room."

Apparently a lot of guys have been stepping out of line and acting up and acting unprofessional lately, and Vince has had enough, so he made Titus the fall guy.

I'm not here to say that what Titus did was right or wrong, or that the suspension is right or wrong, but clearly Vince wanted to send a message and the message was sent loud and clear, fall in line or face the consequences.

http://www.dailywrestlingnews.com/b...uspended-titus-oneil-wwe-talents-misbehaving/

I love the irony of unprofessionally over punishing someone for being unprofessional.

I agree with Stone Cold's view, in order to truly get over a superstar needs to be himself, but Vince has the locker room by the balls so hard, that nobody can break out, because if they try, they get slapped with 90 day suspensions.

 

[Khalifa]

I haven't read any reports other than he has been suspended and Mick Foleys comments so I'm not 100% certain on the situation, however is it just me or did HHH have a wtf look on his face, like he didn't know what to do. Maybe I'll just making assumptions too quick but even by judging Titus 0.1 second walk off thing at the end, it didn't seem like a friendly engagement. A lot of you's are probably thinking how can you say that off 0.1 seconds and a bad quality vid, it's just a feeling I've got so I'm not saying that's what happened. Just simply that it was the first feeling I got when watching it.

Anyways even if it wasn't the most friendlier of encounters at that time it would seem stupid for Titus to do something like that. I don't know Titus outside of a ring but he seems like a cool dude and someone who evidently puts the community first. By that youwould think that it surely couldn't be more than a friendly hug. No one is stupid enough to put their job on the line on stage, atleast I would think. I don't usually like putting all the political blame on Vince but I think he must of done something wrong for Titus to 'snap', otherwise Titus is the biggest idiot in the world.

 

[MartialHorror]

It seems odd, because based off interviews and autobiographies, Vince has actually always seemed rather laid back (didn't he wrestle Kurt Angle at one point?). On the other hand, I have no idea why Titus would do that. I suspect that there is more to this story.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

My first instinct on this was "What the actual fuck? The Old man has finally lost it..."

But the more I thought, I realised that actually there are several reasons this could be a suspension worthy thing, or all of them combining.

First off, whatever Daniel Bryan is to Vince, he knew he deserved that moment from the people on the roster. Whatever went under the bridge, Bryan was a top guy in the eyes of the fans and many of the talents. If the roster is out for a send-off, it's not clowining time, it's serious...a matter of respect. For all the talk of Vince being out of touch, he certainly knows that to Bryan, Brie, the fans and to many of the boys, this is a tragic moment... best I can equate it to is the Hillsborough tribute where a Liverpool Goalkeeper got caught laughing on camera... he was out of the club quicker than it takes to say Yes, Yes, Yes. Send offs are sacred in the WWE...if you get one, it's cos you earned it and whatever Titus' reasons, he made Vince LAUGH on a sombre moment... the sheets and smarks COULD have been all over it and said, "he's laughing at Bryan" and caused a lot of bad publicity. Happily most were "What the fuck?"

One a little more speculative, but if true a BIG indicator is... remember a while back there were a LOT of rumors around Vince's health... and in particular, his eyesight> rumors he was struggling to see and having to almost bump into people? Not saying that is true, but grabbing someone's arm is kinda something you might do if someone has those kind of issues... a lot of Vince's stuff seems very carefully put together these days, if there is some kind of sight or balance issue, then Titus grabbing him unexpectedly could have caused a problem or led people to think there is a problem. All those rumors start up again about Vince's health...and it's not a good situation for the company.

Titus also was quite vocal about his Superbowl tix this weekend and that could also feed into it... almost a "we gave you the weekend off and you pull THIS?"

Ultimately, Vince knows what Titus brings to the table in terms of good PR and the LAST thing he wants to be doing right now is taking a black talent off the road and off Wrestlemania... race is a hot button in Entertainment right now, so it's got to be somewhat serious or an accumulation of things for them to suspend him that long. It could be as someone said, simply a way of saying... "too much is slipping, sorry pal but we're making you an example, and there's loads of guys in NXT who can replace ANY of you now..."

There is a real chance however, as with the Emma situation, cooler heads will prevail in a couple of weeks and Titus will be back on the road, just jobbing out for a while or even sent to NXT. Vince is gonna realise that Titus their "dad of the year" has to go home and tell his kids why he's home for so long... and he'll probably relent at that. He can be a dick, but I doubt even Vince is that much of one... The silver lining is it could, with the right spin, lead to something good on the back end for him... Trips, Orton, Miz, have all been in that particular shithouse and ended up champions...

 

[therockiswwf]

Titus picked the worst time to do that. It was Bryan's night. You don't fuck with that. You also don't screw up a camera shot. I also don't get what exactly he was trying to do.

30 day suspension would make more sense but it really doesn't matter. Titus was being an idiot.

I've seen some people say that Cena wouldn't get suspended if he did this. While that may be true, Cena would also never do something like this. It was dumb and unprofessional.

 

[ShinChan]

To be honest, I dont feel to blame either of the parties. Real matter is only known to Vince along with Titus and his fellow wrestlers who were standing there. If Titus really did it and did it in a humourous way, a warning or suspension of 30 days would be enough. But if its his only mistake and still he is suspended for 90 days, then its wrong punishment. If he did any other wrong thing, then its right.

​

 

[Pedigree1]

This is Very Bizarre!! I have no Clue what Titus was Thinking or doing.. Had this occurred 2 minutes later off TV no problem. But damn a 90 day suspension is rather harsh. This guy has done amazing PR work for the WWE and this to me all does but bury it all of it..

I honestly think Titus was just being Playful but Vince obviously feels differently. But this is Vince we're talking about,and his temper he thinks he is god. Talent has always been afraid to speak up so maybe it could be one of these times yet again. You could sneeze in the wrong direction or cough and Vince could get his panites up in a wad and can your ass

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Apparently Titus is quoting Biblical verses on Twitter which clearly means that this is all a work and he will be returning with 'The Revival' gimmick that WWE just trademarked.

But probably not. Hard to say what Titus was thinking. Maybe he was caught in the moment of DB's passing and wanted to share that emotion with Vince or maybe he was just being silly or maybe he is pissed to have dropped a match earlier to Adam Rose. Any way you look at it, Titus kind of went in to business for himself and a punishment seems reasonable. Two or three months seems extreme and I'm guessing a guy further up the card would be handled differently but still a punishment is not totally out of line.

 

[stingray11214]

Now, Batista is shooting his mouth off. Pouring gasoline on an already dying match. Titus should get his release? Really? What a stupid thing to say. http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/673...aw-near-sell-out-update-on-205-pound-wwe-show

 

[TStorm]

Suspension has been reduced down to 60 days. Which is a little bit better.

Titus O’Neil, a 38-year-old Florida native known for his immense charity work and larger-than-life personality, has been sidelined for what’s being described as “unprofessional conduct,” according to WWE.

The company originally told The Post that he was expected to miss the biggest show of the year — Wrestlemania — after being suspended for 90 days following an incident on this week’s episode of “Monday Night Raw.” But they later confirmed that he will actually be suspended for 60 days, instead.

“The suspension of Titus O’Neil had nothing to do with race and everything to do with unprofessional conduct,” WWE told the Post in a statement. They added that Titus “acknowledged the gravity of his mistake” in a text message, writing:

“I feel like s–t now so if you have to let me go, I understand. Stupid mistake.”

Read more at http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/673...s-titus-oneils-suspension#Sqy8OmoTT6bcf2EM.99


In the end, Titus understood he made a mistake and understood he had to pay for it. Release would have been too much, even if he believed he deserved it.