Australian WWE star Grayson Waller has broken his silence over a shock interview he did on Sunrise earlier this year during which he accused co-host Natalie Barr of ‘disrespecting’ his profession.
The professional wrestler, 34, told Canadian podcaster Chris Van Vliet he lashed out on camera after he felt the Sunrise team were making fun of his job.
‘I hate when people disrespect what we do and treat it as a joke. Their sound guy said he would “take a punch” from me, and I was like, “you don’t realise what we do”,’ Grayson said.
In January, Grayson was welcomed to the Channel Seven breakfast show alongside American rival LA Knight, but things took a turn for the worse when the pair started trash talking each other.
Co-host Barr looked visibly uncomfortable as Grayson’s verbal insults became heated and told the wrestlers: ‘I’m getting a bit scared here – I’m glad I’m sitting on this side of the couch.’
Grayson told Chris he decided he would have some ‘fun’ by scaring the Sunrise team after he felt insulted by them.
‘I thought I’m going to have some fun with this, and they were terrified. We need to protect what we do. If someone is so disrespectful to your face, I’m not going to sit there and take it.
‘I wanted them to respect what I did a little bit more. They don’t know what wrestling is, they are not fans. I came to Australia to do the show, I was doing it for them, they were not doing it for me.’
Australian WWE star Grayson Waller (pictured) has broken his silence about the shock interview he did on Sunrise earlier this year, in which he accused co-host Natalie Barr of ‘disrespecting’ his profession
During the shock Sunrise interview, Natalie asked Waller and Knight to perform their ‘signature’ WWE moves on each other.
After they refused, she suggested they instead demonstrate using a Sunrise floor manager.
The male staffer then confidently strutted onto set and prepared to face off with Waller, who seemed irritated the man wasn’t taking it seriously.
‘I don’t think you understand, because if I go over there we’re gonna have the police here, because I’m not gonna give you some fake punch,’ Waller ranted at the man, standing up from his seat.
The professional wrestler, 34, told Canadian podcaster Chris Van Vliet that he lashed out on camera after he felt the Sunrise team were making fun of his job. Pictured on the program
‘I’m gonna punch you straight in the jaw. The disrespect you give me when you act like this isn’t real. Don’t act tough. You guys disrespect us, are you kidding me?’ he continued.
Natalie was visibly shocked by the outburst, nervously telling Waller: ‘I’m not disrespecting you.’
Meanwhile, co-host Matt Shirvington tried to diffuse the situation, doing his best umpire impersonation before escorting the floor manager off set.
Waller then sat down and assured Natalie that he and Knight ‘loved’ the Sunrise host, as they immediately wrapped up.
Grayson said he decided he would have some ‘fun’ by scaring the Sunrise team, after he felt insulted by them
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