Released WWE wrestler reveals Vince McMahon’s reaction to controversial NXT promo
Joe Gacy said Vince McMahon went back and forth with his reaction to a promo he gave during the NXT 2.0 era.
On the September 21, 2021 episode of NXT, Gacy cut a promo using terms such as “safe space,” “microaggressions,” and “male privilege.” An article about the promo appeared on Fox News with the headline “WWE pins woke left with controversial new wrestler.”
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Gacy revealed that McMahon was initially upset after seeing coverage of the promo, and he was told by Shawn Michaels that he was being taken off TV.
“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.'”
Later, Gacy said that he got called into Shawn Michaels’ office, where he was informed McMahon had a change of opinion about the segment.
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.”
Joe Gacy’s WWE career after NXT 2.0
Gacy‘s character transitioned from there to the Schism faction. Following that, Gacy made his main roster debut as a member of the Wyatt Sicks in June 2024. He was part of WWE roster cuts revealed on April 24, 2026.
Gacy’s full conversation with Chris Van Vliet is available in the player below.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has appeared in award-winning publications such as NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and was named managing editor in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.