Vince McMahon Sabotaged Christian Cage's Career
In February 2009, Christian made his surprising return to WWE and debuted on the ECW brand. The moment was exciting for fans, as Christian had made a big name for himself during his nearly four-year stint with TNA Wrestling.
Some fans don't look back on the moment fondly though, as commentator Todd Grisham didn't have much enthusiasm in his voice for the return of a legend. As it turns out, Vince McMahon himself instructed Grisham to have a low demeanor about Christian's return to the company.
Right before I walked out of the Gorillia position before the show. Vince McMahon called me over and said, “When Christian walks out..don’t get excited at all simply say ‘it’s Christian’ and that’s it. Understand me?”
Me: “Yes sir”
Tony Khan responded to Grisham's post, calling the behavior insane.
In a recent interview, Kurt Angle stated that there isn't much difference between Vince McMahon and the character of 'Mr. McMahon'.
Reacting to a post criticizing his commentary on X, Grisham recalled the infamous moment. The former WWE personality detailed how McMahon ordered him to say those exact words when Christian returned. Grisham could do nothing but accept and follow his boss’ instructions. Over the years, this moment has become a running online joke.
For some reason, McMahon never saw Christian as a potential main-event talent in WWE. Therefore, Captain Charisma failed to reach similar heights as his best friend, Edge (Adam Copeland). Even after winning his first World Heavyweight Championship, the Canadian star ended up losing the belt in five days.
The story reignited the long-standing debate around McMahon's supposed dislike of Christian (rumors mentioned that Jay wasn't a yes-man and didn't want to be involved with any shenanigans backstage involving Vince and his bullying/harassment way).
The latter was once one-half of his most profitable tag-team stable with Edge. However, following their diversion into single competitors, the former 'Captain Charisma' was never treated as a prized asset.
Former WWE star Lance Storm confirmed the official WWE program incorrectly billed Christian at 5’ 10” when the man whose real name is William Reso is 3-4 inches taller.
McMahon's old WWE lead writer Alex Greenfield later revealed the billionaire once pitched to have Christian's face covered by a blue dot.
"Right before I started, there was a big show, I think it might have been in Toronto. Christian was just so completely over, and everybody thought he was going to get a push at, I think it was the World Heavyweight Championship at that point. We were on the plane one time shortly after I started, and Vince was just like 'God damn, I just don't like his face. His face really bothers me.'
"I was like, 'He's ugly, Vince?'
'No, it's not that he's ugly, it's just, I don't know, it's ratty!"
WWE executive Bruce Pritchard even waded in on the theory, by explaining McMahon was never a major fan. "[Vince] didn’t feel that [Christian] had the personality to connect with the audience in a big way. He didn’t think he was larger than life and at that time Vince wanted the top guys needed to be larger than life. You needed to be The Rock, needed to be Stone Cold, you needed to be Undertaker. Every time you would come up with an idea for Edge or Christian it would be like okay, there is a lot of excitement there with Edge."
"‘Oh by God, we could do this with him. We could do this with him, a big good-looking bastard and then we’d get to Christian and it would just be, ‘Ugh, God, do we have to shoot him? Do we have to see that face? The fuck’s he gonna say?!’"
Even after winning his first World Heavyweight Championship, Christian ended up losing the belt within five days.
He inducted long-term partner Edge into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012 but is conspicuous by his own absence from the list over a decade later. The veteran wasn't offered a new WWE contract following a separate return at the Royal Rumble in 2021.
He has since found a home in AEW under Tony Khan's leadership, who reacted to Grisham's story further in an additional post that read: "Christian Cage is the man."
tangentwithtanner
dailybridgerton
areudirty
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
stormborns
