Vince McMahon can take your breath away, quite literally.
In the Summer of 2010, Nexus was running wild in the WWE world. The pro wrestling stable of newcomers featured the likes of Wade Barrett, Ryback, Daniel Bryan (briefly), and Justin Gabriel. Now known as PJ Black, Gabriel was tasked with hitting his amazing looking 450 splash on WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. It was a memorable one for many reasons.
"Oh, man. That was a fun one," Black told Fightful. "I think that was the one and only time that I ever winded myself, actually. I will never forget that, ‘cause Vince [McMahon] is such a big man. People don’t realize, even for his age, if you look at him from the side he’s really wide. He’s a body builder. He’s a jacked dude. I remember standing up there, too, for an extra ten seconds, I always used to stand up there for a long time. You know, build suspense. But, I remember that day I stood there for an even longer time. I remember [???] and waiting, and he altogether said, “C’mon, baby.” I remember landing on him, but it was perfect, and I was so winded. I looked at him and afterwards in the back I was like, “I’m so sorry.” He’s like, “What for? That was great.” I was like, “Okay, cool.”
Doing your finishing move on your boss is intimidating enough. Knocking the wind out of yourself and facing the consequences -- or lack thereof -- surely are more intimidating.
"It was and it was the weirdest thing," Black noted. "Maybe again, too, it’s psychology. This is my boss, this is Vince McMahon. Maybe that’s what it was. But, it was a cool experience. I totally forgot about that, thanks for bringing it up. I’m gonna go look for that video clip right now and post it on my Instagram."
You can see our full interview with PJ Black at the top of the page, and check him out on Ring of Honor programming, which airs on HonorClub.
