Steve Austin On If Titus O'Neil's WWE Suspension Is Excessive, Racism Charges, John Cena Doing It
On episode 299 of The Steve Austin Show, WWE Hall of Famer 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin weighed in on Titus O'Neil's recent suspension. As we have previously reported, O'Neil was suspended for 60 days by WWE following an incident with Vince McMahon. The New York Post ran with the story, piggybacking on the sentiment of some fans who claimed that the suspension was due to McMahon being racist.
According to Austin, the suspension has no underlying racial undertones.
"The whole racist thing really irritated me because any time you hear about anything these days it's racist, and, man, it's 2016. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist, but, I mean, to play that card in this situation was total B.S. from my perspective." Austin continued, "racism and that? Absolutely not. It was a reprimand for something that didn't need to happen at that time. End of story."
Although Austin stated that the suspension has nothing to do with race, he acknowledged that the punishment itself is excessive.
"If you're going to suspend somebody, I think 30 [days should suffice]. I think 60 [days] is still a little overreacting. Did something need to happen, a come to Jesus meeting or a stern talking to backstage? Something [needed] to happen because I do believe it was inappropriate. It was the wrong person, at the wrong time."
See Also: Another Angle Of Vince McMahon Shoving Titus O'Neil (Video), WWE Shop Sale, WWE RAW In Hartford
In Austin's view, John Cena is the only WWE performer who could have gotten away unscathed from such horseplay, but Cena would have had more sense than that anyway. Austin claimed that Daniel Bryan's sendoff was simply the wrong time to be goofing around.
"Vince is 70 [years old] right now and that was a serious moment for him. He was totally in character. He cares about Daniel Bryan. He gets jerked pretty forcibly over there to Titus O'Neil and it was completely inappropriate." Austin added, "this may be pro wrestling/sports entertainment, whatever you want to call it, but that was a serious moment. It's not a time to be shucking and jiving out there, so lay some type of punishment down. Fine him, this, that, or whatever. I don't know. Something was appropriate, but when I started hearing the racism things, I was like, 'I've got to roll my eyes and I've got to call complete and utter bulls–t in this one.'"
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Source: The Steve Austin Show