Batista Talks About Being Angry With Vince McMahon, Friendship With Titus O'Neil

Batista was the most recent guest on Chris Jericho’s podcast, where he had a lot to say about his friendship with former WWE Tag Team Champion Titus O’Neil, as well as his frustration with Vince McMahon.

Friendship with Titus O’Neil:

“Titus is my boy. I would love to go and do something with him whether it’s against him or tag with him. But I’d love to just to say that we did because we’ve never gotten a chance to work together.

“He always gives me way more credit than I deserve, because I didn’t really do anything other than tell him what he needed to do, and then he did it all on his own. We were friends way before he got into wrestling, when he was still playing football actually. But he always gives me more credit than I deserve.”

On being frustrated with Vince McMahon:

“I told [Titus] that he should’ve left WWE after he got suspended, I just said ‘dude, I would’ve been outta there.’ I hated it because I thought that was a conversation — Vince should’ve pulled him aside and said ‘look, don’t ever do that again,’ and it never would’ve happened again. It should’ve been a man to man thing if he had such an issue with it.

“Vince is a playful guy — we’re always grabbing each other, and he always wants to wrestle. So, once you get in the mindset that you guys are on those terms, that’s just what it is. Don’t change your mind because of the timing. [Vince] was embarrassed. You know, that’s when you pull someone aside, especially a guy like Titus who’s super loyal, like he loves that company. You pull him aside and you give him the benefit of the doubt and you say ‘hey man, don’t do that again.’

“I felt like [the suspension] was such a slap in the face, and I really felt like they just spit right in his face because they suspended him through WrestleMania. You don’t do that — the guy busts his a** all year long and then you take that away from him. Not only did [Vince] not talk to him and say ‘you shouldn’t have done that, man,’ he suspended him, but he didn’t even do it personally, he had someone else do it. And then he fined him… That’s when you man up and talk to your guys, especially guys like [Titus], he’s so loyal to the company.”