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Former WWE Superstar Mike Bennett has opened up on conversations he had with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon while he was working for the promotion.
During a recent interview with the Busted Open podcast, Bennett, previously known as Mike Kanellis in WWE, recalled a time that he spoke with Vince McMahon after the birth of his first child with his wife, Maria Kanellis.
Mike Bennett said that he always had good conversations with the WWE Chairman and that he appreciated that McMahon was brutally honest in their talks:
"I had many good conversations with Vince, after we had our first child, I remember going into Vince's office, and I was like, 'Look, if this isn't working out, if I'm not what you thought I was or whatever or you just don't see anything in me,' I asked Vince, and I said, 'Then just let me go for a couple of years and maybe I'll come back, and we'll figure this out.' And he straight up told me, he said, 'I've seen your work. I think you're good. We just have to find the right storyline that fits. We just have to find the right place for you.' He's like, 'I got a million guys right now.' The one thing I respect about Vince is he was always brutally honest with me. (h/t Wrestling INC)
"He never sugarcoated anything, which I respected that. I wish other people in that company wouldn't sugarcoat things for me or just try to do things, but Vince, if I went to him directly, he always straight up told me what was going on. And so, we did have those conversations, and we had many opportunities where me and Maria went in there, we pitched stuff, and Vince always seemed open to it. He always seemed - he was very respectful about everything, and [the ideas] just didn't materialize and I know how that works. I know I'll go in there, I'll tell Vince one thing, he might like it, but Roman [Reigns] goes in there, Seth [Rollins] goes in there, and Bray [Wyatt] goes in there right after me and he probably doesn't remember it after that, which sucks. (h/t Wrestling INC)
Mike Bennett was quick to point out that despite his and Maria's best efforts in WWE, the way the promotion works just didn't provide a path for success to them:
"It sucks for us smaller guys who are trying to get their names up there, but at the end of the day, it's just how that company works. I tried, Maria tried, and it didn't work, so what else are you going to do?" (h/t Wrestling INC)
Not a fun WWE experience
Continuing to discuss his time in WWE, Mike Bennett did admit that his time with the promotion was not fun for him. Bennett even suggested that he most likely had one of the worst WWE runs during his time on RAW and SmackDown.
However, Bennett insisted that he holds no ill-will towards WWE as that's just how the promotion functions:
"It wasn't fun for me, and this isn't a knock. That's how that company works, and again, you either accept it or you don't, It's Vince's company; this is how he wants it to run, so you either accept that or you don't, and eventually, I accepted it and I said, 'This isn't really what I like, so I can either mope about it or I can use it to teach me.' And as bad as - I think I had one of the worst WWE runs." (h/t Wrestling INC)
"It's up there, but I use it as a learning experience. I learned more about myself as a person, and a father, and a husband, and as a wrestler in those three years than I learned in the past 20 years of my wrestling career. I learned so much there." (h/t Wrestling INC)
What are your thoughts on Mike Bennett's WWE career?
