WWE News: Titus O’Neil Set To Return To Action Next Week
Former WWE Tag-Team Champion Titus O’Neil was suspended back on February 8, following an incident with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Originally, Titus was suspended for 90-days, but due to the overwhelming amount of support for the ex-WWE Tag Champ, McMahon reduced the suspension to 60-days.
After the suspension was reduced, it was reported that Vince McMahon originally wanted to fire O’Neil, but Triple H and Joey Mercury talked the Chairman down to a suspension.
It’s been over 60-days since Titus was suspended, and WWE still hasn’t allowed him to return to action. But, according to Cageside Seats, O’Neil will begin working WWE live events after the company wraps up their European tour next week.
“The suspended Titus O’Neil will be back on the road with WWE next week when they return from Europe, but there’s no word on if he’ll be on television any time soon.”
According to PW Insider, O’Neil will only be working the WWE live events for a period of time before he returns to television.
Titus didn’t express any harsh feeling toward WWE during his suspension. In fact, he said that he deserved the punishment he ended up getting. He also made it clear that he intends to return to WWE when his suspension ends, even though his good friend, and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Batista advised him to quit.“[Batistia] is right. I can go and coach, I can do a lot of stuff, but at the end of the day, I’ve never quit on anything in my entire life. I made a mistake at an inopportune time. Regardless if it was too harsh or overreacting or whatever people have deemed it, it all stems from my mistake. Whether I agree with it or not, I am owning it.”
The Titus O’Neil incident actually ended up stopping Batista from participating at this year’s WrestleMania. Prior to O’Neil’s suspension, WWE had offered “The Animal” a guest referee role, which Batista ended up turning down. But, he was open to doing something else until WWE decided to suspend his pal Titus.
Prior to his suspension, O’Neil was receiving a bit of a singles push, as WWE decided to split up the Prime Time Players for the second time. He was also WWE’s charitable face while John Cena was out with an injury. As of right now, it’s unclear if WWE will continue to use him as their number-two charity guy when he returns.
WWE did run an anti-smoking ad during Monday’s RAW which featured O’Neil and Natalya, so that’s probably an indication that O’Neil will hold onto his spot as one of WWE’s top charitable faces.
The anti-smoking ad was the first time Titus was featured in anything WWE-related since he was suspended.
Most are expecting that Titus will be more over than he’s ever been upon his return. Whether that turns out to be true, and whether or not WWE capitalizes on that momentum if it’s there remains to be seen.
It’s likely that O’Neil, who is 38-years-old, will ride out the rest of his WWE contract, and when it expires, he’ll go on to do other things.
Batista believes that O’Neil is one of the most talented guys in the WWE locker room, and he also believes that O’Neil doesn’t need WWE. When “The Animal” spoke withTMZ back in February, he said the former WWE Tag-Team Champion is capable of doing big things outside of WWE.
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