Former WWE star Joe Gacy has recalled a stressful moment during the NXT 2.0 era that saw Vince McMahon apparently change his mind about one of his promos after initially reacting negatively to the publicity it received.

Gacy appeared on the September 21, 2021 edition of NXT and delivered a promo built around phrases including “safe space,” “microaggressions,” and “male privilege.” The segment quickly attracted attention outside of wrestling, including coverage from Fox News under the headline, “WWE pins woke left with controversial new wrestler.”

Speaking during a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Gacy explained that the outside attention initially appeared to cause problems for his new character.

According to Gacy, Vince McMahon saw the headline surrounding the segment and was unhappy, with Shawn Michaels subsequently informing him that WWE planned to temporarily remove him from television.

Gacy recalled:

“The word is, this is when Vince McMahon was still in charge, he saw the headline and got very upset. Shawn Michaels called me and said, ‘Hey, Vince is not too happy with what happened. Unfortunately, we’re gonna have to take you off TV for a little bit.'”

However, the situation did not remain that way for long.

Gacy said he was later summoned to Michaels’ office, where things had dramatically changed. After McMahon reportedly watched the promo for himself rather than simply reacting to the headline, his opinion of the segment was considerably more positive.

Gacy continued:

“I go in Shawn’s office and it’s him and one of the head writers, and they have, I believe, Bruce Prichard on the phone, and they’re just typing this promo. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And they’re like, ‘All right, so we’re going to have you go out and cut this promo today.’

“So it turns out Vince saw the headline and kind of freaked out, but then he actually went back and watched it and apparently loved it. So he was on board after he actually watched the actual promo.

“They typed me out like a three-page promo and I had to remember it in 30 minutes, and that was probably the most stressful time in my life and career ever.

“I went out there and I did it. It probably wasn’t word for word, but apparently Vince was happy with what I did. Everyone else was happy with what I did. I think from that point on there was nothing that this company was ever going to give me that would stress me out ever again, because that was the most stressful time I think I’ve ever had there.”