Michael Chandler recently spoke about how his WWE Raw appearance came about and weighed in on a possible WrestleMania appearance. As noted, the UFC star spoke from the audience on this week’s show and called out Conor McGregor to face him in the Octagon. Chandler spoke about the appearance on The MMA Hour, and you can see some highlights below (per Fightful):
On calling McGregor out on Raw: “I literally injured my voice on Monday Night Raw. Before I went on, one of the producers was like, ‘Hey, this microphone, it’s gated.’ ‘What does that mean?’ ‘It means you have to speak up.’ ‘I don’t think that will be a problem. The moment took over and a star was born. It was planned. I was going to be at Raw. Obviously, TKO Group, UFC, WWE, all one big happy family. This was the first time they were intermingling the UFC crowd with WWE crowd, bring in some fighters. They put me down in the front row and I took matters into my own hands.”
On if he went off a script: “Two minutes before, they said they were going to put the camera on me. I said, ‘Why don’t you give me the microphone?’ ‘Hold on, let me run it up the flag pole.’ About a minute later, ‘You’re going on and you’ll get the microphone if you want it.’ Magic happened. There was nothing prepared. I was thrown into the fire. Smacked myself a couple of times, and we went.”
On a possible WrestleMania 40 appearance: “As you know, there are little hints being dropped everywhere. That was definitely coincidental. I had a meeting with Triple H after, we chopped it up. I paid my respects. I grew up watching Triple H. We had a nice little talk. I would love to head out to Philly in April. We’ll see what happens.”
On meeting with Triple H: “He liked what he saw. A lot of WWE brass liked what they saw. There were some talks happening. It was fun.”
On what he meant when he tweeted ‘contract signed’: “I’m implying this is not the last you’ll see of me in WWE. Possibly. We will see. There is a crossover there. A ton of respect for the wrestlers, the brass there. They have a ton of respect for the UFC. It was really cool being there watching other athletes, entertainers, and performers. There is a lot of synergy there, and the sky is the limit with TKO Group and what we can do in the crossover. It’s probably the very beginning. The meshing of both brands was going to happen. I feel I was the catalyst to start it. It was the first kick off of what is to come.”
