Grayson Waller has looked back on an interview that made headlines around the world.
Back in January 2024, Waller and LA Knight appeared on the Australian morning show Sunrise to promote Elimination Chamber. Towards the end of the interview, host Natalie Barr asked Knight if he could demonstrate one of his finishing moves. Knight passed the offer to Waller, who was then approached by a member of the production team and found the whole thing to be a joke.
Grayson Waller would quickly become irate and felt that WWE and professional wrestling were being disrespected, which would develop into a verbal altercation on set. Quickly making its way around the internet, many praised Waller for defending professional wrestling, including Hall of Famer Booker T.
Speaking exclusively with Inside The Ropes’ own Kenny McIntosh, Waller was asked about the positive feedback he received following the interview, to which the Australian star admitted that it is rare to be complimented by fans:
“Yeah, it’s strange for me to get any type of positive feedback online. So that was very confusing, I don’t know how I felt about it. But, you know, it’s a situation where they don’t know any better. We walked into that show, we had just been on 24 hours of travel basically, to get to Australia, and you get put on this show. They’re doing four hours a day, they just asking questions off the screen. They don’t know, it’s not their fault. But, I was kind of chillin.
So you get this guy standing in front of me shimmying his shoulders, he’s telling me I’ll take a fake punch. I see that as complete disrespect to what I do, how hard we work and everything we do. So I just needed to show him and show the show this isn’t what you think it is. This isn’t what it was in the 90s, we’re for real. I have no problem standing up for the business every time I have the opportunity.
I had a few DMs from certain wrestlers. I got to see Undertaker backstage at Royal Rumble. He shook my hand and showed respect. If The Undertaker was happy with something I did then I’m okay with it.”
“I Can’t Help Myself, I Have To Get Involved”: Grayson Waller
Grayson Waller was asked about the comedic nature that Knight offered up the spot, to which the WWE Superstar compared it to a previous infamous wrestling interview:
It’s comedic if you know wrestling and you know LA’s finishing move. Unfortunately, I’ve been on the receiving end of that move multiple times, it’s you getting your head drilled directly into the mat. So I don’t know how that would have looked if LA Knight got up and gave Natalie Barr on Seven Sunrise the Blunt Force Trauma. You want to talk about viral? That’s real viral.
But I think part of the blame has to go to LA Knight. It’s funny that people online talked about the Vader Undertaker thing where Taker is just sitting there so calm and collected while Vader goes off and then there’s the parallel where LA Knight passes me the buck because he knows I can’t help myself. I have to get involved. So fair play, he knows me too well.
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WWE presents Elimination Chamber Live from Perth, Australia on Saturday, February 24th.