Former WWE commentator Todd Grisham has recounted the line that caused him to be on the receiving end of a very irate Vince McMahon.
Past announcers have often told stories of McMahon micromanaging the commentary team, and how the former Chairman would become furious if his instructions were not followed to the letter, or if those behind the desk said something he did not like. From Michael Cole to Jim Ross to Jonathan Coachman, virtually none of the team was safe from McMahon barking orders over the headset, with many saying that their best moments were when he was in the ring, as he could communicate with them at that point.
An announcer through the Ruthless Aggression Era, Grisham called the action on the main roster, and at one point was reportedly due to take over from Jim Ross as one of the lead commentators in the company. However, following one comment about a top heel, Grisham was ordered to stay silent.
“Just Shut Up!”: Vince McMahon Laid Into Todd Grisham Over Poetry Error
While speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Grisham recounted the time when he said that wrestler John Morrison loved poetry, as it was also a way to plug the WWE Magazine. However, with Morrison being a heel at the time, McMahon did not appreciate the message to the fans:
“Vince McMahon went insane on me one time because I said that John Morrison, who was a heel at the time, loved poetry. Normally, I wouldn’t say that, but there was a new WWE magazine. They just transformed it from being like a results-based boring magazine, like last week, Eddie Guerrero beat JBL by pinfall, here’s the description, to more of a Maxim-style lifestyle magazine. Get to know the superstars better. So they’re like, anytime you can incorporate stuff from the magazine, do it. It helps sell the magazine. It helps tell their story. It syncs everything up, great. So they did a whole thing on John Morrison; his finisher was called Starship Pain. So he wrote a poem called Starship Pain. So he’s in the ring and I go, ‘John Morrison, Starship Pain, he’s a big fan of poetry, and wrote a poem about the finisher Starship Pain.’ Vince goes insane in my ear. ‘Did you just say that our number one heel is an effing poet, you stupid F! What the f*ck! Shut up. Just shut up. Don’t say anything else! Jim Ross, you call the rest of this fight. I don’t wanna hear another effing word out of you.’ So literally, the match starts and I don’t say a single word for like five minutes, and then the match ends, and we gotta do a promo going to the next fight, and he goes, ‘Okay, you can talk now.’ I’m like, ‘Coming up next Shelton Benjamin goes one-on-one with The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels.’ But he was so angry at me over that.”
Also during the interview, Grisham spoke about his infamous “It’s Christian” line, which saw the commentator unenthusiastically react to Christian make his return to the company. Grisham admitted that although it was a McMahon instruction to only say those 2 words, it remains one moment that fans still remind him of all these years later:
“Christian was one of my better friends at WWE. We’d hang out in catering all the time and talk. He was the most, I mean, I think even most superstars or wrestlers will tell you that you got to be a little bit insane to be a wrestler. He was the most normal person backstage him, and like Shane Helms, The Hurricane and Edge, those were kind of the guys I would hang out with. And Christian we would play this game called Words with Friends, which is like an app back and forth. So he left WWE to go to TNA for a while. We’d still hang out and text and talk, and he was coming back. So I was excited all day long. Yeah, that’s great. Here’s the match, was talking to him about his match, and I’m thinking, I gotta nail this when he comes out. I had something to say. I’m standing in Gorilla about to walk out, and Vince had glasses on his nose, and he did one of these [come here gestures]. I’m like, Okay, I walk over. He’s just said to me, ‘When Christian walks out, I want you to just say “it’s Christian”, and that’s it. Understand?’ I’m like, Yes sir. And I’m thinking, Oh my god. So that’s how I did it. But I felt like, How do I do it? So I almost did it, like in my brain, like I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned silence, like, ‘It’s Christian. How can this possibly be?’ So that’s how I tried to do it. And, man, that’s probably the most criticism I get from fans. Like, ‘Why does Todd hate Christian? Why did he do that? He ruined it.’ But Vince just did not like Christian. I think he thought he liked big guys, and he thought Christian just didn’t look the part. But he was such a good in-ring performer. I mean, has he ever had a bad match?”
McMahon is no longer involved in pro wrestling following allegations in a lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault and trafficking by former employee Janel Grant. However, according to the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship founder, McMahon was very interested in purchasing the promotion.
Featured image: WWE
