TNA Knockout Talks Angle with Stephanie McMahon

You might remember this one. So back in 2014, Daniel Bryan had to take a long hiatus from the WWE due to his various injuries. In his absence, the Authority set its sights on his wife, Brie Bella. This included making up a story that Bryan had an affair with his physical therapist named Megan Miller. What you might not know is that Miller was played by current TNA Knockout Laurel Van Ness and that there was a bit of an interesting setup to the story.

Van Ness recently appeared on episode 255 of the “Pancakes and Powerslams” podcast to discuss her upcoming TV wedding to Braxton Sutter as well as the rest of her career. This includes a discussion on the angle with the Authority and Bryan, including how it was set up in the first place (transcription courtesy of wrestlinginc.com):

“I was three months out of training, and I got a call asking if I would like to be a rosebud. So, of course, I said yes, [and was] extremely excited. And on the second day of being a rosebud, I believe we were in Yakima, Washington, which is like such a tiny, tiny, little town. You know, it took me like six hours to drive there, I was so excited to be a rosebud. And they said, ‘We want you to come in for Raw tomorrow, and we have a little part for you.’ So I thought, well that’s cool. Ok, no problem. I’ll be there.

“I came in, and I did the same thing I had done the last two days. I’d changed with all the rosebuds and got ready. And then, one of the backstage [crewmen] pulled me aside, and said, ‘We just need you to come over here, we’re gonna chat with you about your little part today.’ And they actually walked me into the room, and in front of me was Triple H, Stephanie, and Vince McMahon. And, immediately, in that moment, I thought, oh my God. This is way bigger than I could have ever thought it would be. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. They handed me a script and they said, ‘Ok, come to the ring in an hour. Be ready.'”

Van Ness also talked about the wedding, which airs on the February 23 episode of “Impact Wrestling”:

“I cannot wait for everyone to see this. You know, I think a lot of people started tuning into Impact Wrestling again with the Hardys doing all their crazy stuff, and I think that this is just gonna give all the viewers another reason to stay tuning in, and hopefully pull in some new audience as well. It is just chaos. I can’t wait for you guys to see it.”

Opinion: I’ve enjoyed the heck out of the build towards the wedding, though I can’t say the same thing about the affair story. It came off like a low rent version of the same thing TNA did with AJ Styles and that was hardly received well either. The story didn’t last long and was basically canceled in less than a week, which might be a record even for WWE.

Are you interested in the wedding? Did you like the Miller story? Let us know in the comments below.