Mike Bennett On Who Should Run WWE Besides Vince McMahon, Reveals Scrapped NXT Plans

"Miracle" Mike Bennett sat down with Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman on the Monday episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast where, amongst others things, Bennett discussed who he thinks should run WWE after Vince McMahon. While Bennett did not spend a long time in NXT having only been used to test out a tag team with him and Tony Nese, he spoke positively about his interactions with Triple H and how Hunter is in touch with what is going on outside of WWE.

"I mean I really liked my short stint at doing NXT live events and stuff. Triple H, he feels like he is headed in the right direction," Bennett said. "He feels like he understands the talent. Like with Vince, it feels like he has no idea what we've done before. He has no idea what anyone's done outside of WWE. With Triple H, I always felt like he knew exactly what we were capable of because he watched us.

"He's seen the stuff that guys had done in Ring of Honor, or Impact, or New Japan, or Noah or wherever. So he knows what guys are capable of and again, I don't know because I didn't work under him that long to really get like a grasp but besides him, there's no one else because they all just report to Vince.

"So everyone just does what they think Vince wants to see, and that is the core issue. No one's writing television or booking TV because they think it's going to be good. They book to save their job."

Many of WWE's creative woes are blamed on the writing staff, and AEW has touted the fact that they don't have writers. However, Bennett defended the writers and noted that they are doing what they can to keep their jobs, so they write according to what they think McMahon will approve of.

"So for example, writers get a bad rap all the time," Bennett pointed out. "It's like, 'oh, blame the writers because they don't get wrestling.' No, the writers get it, but they're also trying to keep their job. So if they're constantly writing stuff that I think is good or you think is good, but Vince is rejecting it, they're going to get fired because Vince is going to be like, 'oh, you're just bringing me stuff that I don't like at all.' So what ends up happening is they write based on what they think Vince will accept, based on what they know Vince likes.

"So if Vince, in that week, is really into poop humor, they're going to be like, 'let's book a lot of poop humor jokes because we know that'll get on television, and we'll have job security' and that's how it works. Again, it is what it is. You go there, you learn that's how it works and you either accept it or you don't. I couldn't accept it because I thought it sucked."

Bennett revealed that not only was he he supposed to go to NXT but also, he was offered less money than his Impact Wrestling contract. He said that he was set to go to NXT but instead would be paid like a main roster talent which prompted WWE to just have him on the main roster since he was getting paid like a main roster talent.

"Originally, that's where I was supposed to go, but in all fairness, I'll be brutally honest. They reached out to me, and they offered me way less money than Impact was offering me at that time," Bennett revealed. "So I was like, 'I can't for my family.' I can't take less money and move to Florida. I was like, 'Impact was telling me I could stay where I was, and they would pay me more.' It logically didn't make sense to me, and so when I told them no, I just couldn't take that, they then called me back.

"And they said, 'well, we can pay you what we pay the main roster guys, but then you got to go to the main roster,' and I said, 'that's fine.' I was like, 'I'll still go to NXT.' It didn't logically, from a business standpoint, make sense to me. So it was talked about, NXT, but then instantly, it was like, 'well if we're paying you what we pay the main roster guys, we just have to put you on the main roster.' I mean obviously, at that time, NXT wasn't on USA and wasn't kind of viewed in the way it is now, but I would have definitely gone to NXT."

As Bennett reflected, he admitted that he would have preferred to go to NXT because his conversations with Triple H were always more constructive than those with McMahon. He also admitted that Maria was probably the biggest influence for him jumping to the main roster.

"Actually, in retrospect, I would have preferred to go to NXT just because I like dealing with Triple H so much more," Bennett admitted. "Triple H, I always felt like I could talk to Triple H man-to-man. I always felt like when I talked to Vince, he just told me what I wanted to hear so I would get out of his office. Like with Triple H, I could be brutally honest and I would say things to him, and I felt like I could be like, 'this is why I'm upset. Let me tell you. Talk to me like a man. Let's see what we can do from there,' and I always appreciated that relationship.

"With Vince, it felt like he was like, 'alright, Mike Kanellis. What are you doing in my office? Yeah, you're good. You're a good hand. Now scram. Hit the bricks.' So I would have preferred to go do NXT, but there's also this part of me as a wrestler that's like, not many guys got to skip NXT. So I kind of hold it with a badge of honor where I'm like, yeah, you know, maybe it was because of my wife but screw it. I'll still use it to my advantage."

As the interview concluded, Hausman asked Bennett if he had anything else he wanted to say or shout out. Bennett took the opportunity to shout out Maria for all the work she has done not only as a mother but also as a businesswoman.

"I just want to shout out to my wife because that woman is going back to school. She's getting her Masters right now," Bennett revealed. "She has a second business. She's the mom of my children, and that woman works her ass off. I'm inspired by her every day, and I wish people understood just how incredible of a human she is because she gets a bad rap a lot of the times because she's honest and she speaks her mind, but that woman is a warrior and no pun intended with Warrior Wrestling coming up.

"But like I'm just watching her run around the house right now because she's going away for four days for another business trip that she's doing. I just admire her, and I wish more people would understand how incredible of a person she is."

Mike Bennett recently faced Cheeseburger at Warrior Wrestling's Stadium Series Night 3. The event can be found on FITE.tv. You can follow Mike on Twitter @RealMikeBennett.

Bennett's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.