Former WWE commentator Todd Grisham has opened up about his time working commentary in WWE, recalling how Vince McMahon would regularly berate him through the headset during live broadcasts.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Todd Grisham admitted Vince McMahon used to shout at him “all the time,” but said one particular incident stood out over what he believed was an innocent line about John Morrison.
“I said that John Morrison, who was a heel at the time, loved poetry,” Grisham explained. “Normally, I wouldn’t say that, but there was a new WWE Magazine. They had just transformed it from a results-based, boring magazine to more of a Maxim-style, lifestyle magazine: ‘Get to know superstars better.’ So they were like, ‘Any time you can incorporate stuff from the magazine, do it. It helps sell the magazine. It helps sell their story. It syncs everything up.’”
Grisham said the magazine had featured Morrison and even referenced his finishing move, Starship Pain, in a poem written by the wrestler himself.
“So he’s in the ring, and I go, ‘John Morrison, Starship Pain. He’s a big fan of poetry and wrote a poem about the finisher Starship Pain,’” Grisham said. “And Vince goes insane in my ear: ‘Did you just say our number one hero is an effing poet?! You stupid eff! What the f**k?! Shut up! Just shut up! Don’t say anything else! Jim Ross… Jim, you call the rest of this fight! I don’t want to hear another effing word out of you!’”
Grisham revealed he was forced to remain silent for the rest of the match while Jim Ross handled commentary alone. He said McMahon only allowed him to speak again once the bout was over, giving him clearance to promote the next match before the show went to commercial.
How Long Was Todd Grisham A WWE Commentator?
Todd Grisham debuted as the voice of Heat in 2004, and continued to provide play-by-play for the show until 2008, when he became the play-by-play commentator for ECW, joining Tazz, who provided colour commentary.
Josh Matthews took over Grisham on ECW in 2009 as Grisham joined the SmackDown commentary team until 2010, when he became the NXT play-by-play commentator until he left the company in 2011.
