Titus O’Neil Almost Fired By WWE For Grabbing Vince McMahon’s Arm

– As PWMania.com reported, Titus O’Neil was originally suspended 90 days for an incident involving WWE CEO Vince McMahon at the very end of Daniel Bryan’s retirement ceremony Monday night on Raw. O’Neil grabbed Vince’s arm as Vince passed by to exit the stage, drawing in Vince for a face-to-face moment. It’s unclear what Titus’s motivation was for grabbing Vince’s arm. According to reports, O’Neil told WWE management that he grabbed Vince’s arm when he was walking to the back so Stephanie could walk in front of him. O’Neil reportedly claimed it was a gesture to indicated “ladies first,” so Stephanie McMahon could exist the stage first, ahead of Vince. Vince was caught off-guard as he spun around, but everyone around them seemed to take it as good-natured fun. Vince was angered by it, prompting the suspension. However, the New York Post reported late Wednesday that the Stamford-based organization had scaled back the ban to 60 days.

There was backlash the suspension was racially motivated. WWE denied that to the Post.

“The suspension of Titus O’Neil had nothing to do with race and everything to do with unprofessional conduct,” WWE said in a statement.

The Post added that WWE claims O’Neil “acknowledged the gravity of his mistake” in a text message.

“I feel like sh** now so if you have to let me go, I understand. Stupid mistake,” he wrote, according to WWE.

A source within WWE indicates that cooler heads had to speak up to keep O’Neil from being outright fired.