For a stretch in the late 2000s, Todd Grisham was a constant presence on SmackDown, later stepping into play-by-play duties for ECW during the brand’s revival. But long before he became a familiar voice in WWE, Grisham was already fielding criticism for the very decision to join the company at all.
Appearing on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Grisham looked back on the reaction he received when he first signed with WWE; a move many around him didn’t understand. “There were a lot of people that thought I was an idiot,” Grisham recalled. “Because I was pretty good, everyone was like: ‘You’re gonna be on SportsCenter one day!’ Because I was kinda different.”
That difference, Grisham explained, was intentional. He never wanted to follow the conventional broadcast path. “I didn’t want to do what everybody else was doing,” he said, joking that he would have happily covered “a dog doing free throws just to be different.” Even if WWE didn’t work out, the risk felt manageable. “I thought, even if this WWE thing doesn’t work out? I’ll have to – what – go back to working El Paso? So, what.”
Once inside the company, Grisham quickly learned that WWE didn’t view him as a single-purpose hire. He wasn’t slotted immediately into a high-profile role. Instead, he was asked to do a bit of everything. “WWE doesn’t hire you for specialized roles,” he explained. “I started doing the Bottom Line, which was a show that recapped the events of Raw and SmackDown.”
That adaptability became essential when Grisham transitioned into backstage interviews; a role that put him face-to-face with some of the most intimidating personalities in wrestling. His first major test came opposite Booker T, and he admits he wasn’t given much guidance beforehand. “I thought, usually when the wrestler gets in your face, you know, you gotta act scared? So that’s what I did,” Grisham said. Looking back, he knows he overplayed it. “I kind of worked on acting scared but not ‘scared to poop my pants’ scared… I’m worried here, but he’s not going to put his hands on me, because I’m a professional.”
Off-camera, the learning curve could be even harsher. Grisham described an initiation-style prank where The Brooklyn Brawler spread a rumor backstage that Grisham believed wrestling was fake—nearly resulting in him taking a Batista Bomb. While that disaster was avoided, another moment proved unavoidable.
During a segment involving Shawn Michaels and Edge, Grisham was told he’d need to take a bump, but no one explained how. That guidance finally came from Shelton Benjamin, who offered deceptively simple advice. “He goes: ‘You just can’t flinch. Whatever you do, don’t flinch,’” Grisham recalled. “And right then, he throws a fake Superkick to me.”
Michaels later echoed the same instruction, but things unraveled during the actual segment. Grisham ended up standing too far away when the Superkick came, drawing the ire of referee Mike Chioda. “He was like: ‘What the eff are you doing kid! You gotta feed into that, you’re too far away, you’re making Shawn Michaels look stupid!’” Grisham said. His explanation didn’t help. “I said, ‘They told me don’t move.’” Chioda’s response was wordless, lighting a cigarette and muttering under his breath.
That framing adds context to how unforgiving WWE’s environment can be, especially for non-wrestlers expected to seamlessly adapt to in-ring storytelling. Even commentators and interviewers are part of the performance, and mistakes, however unintentional, are felt by everyone involved.
Looking ahead, Grisham’s reflections highlight how much of WWE’s learning process happens on the fly. For those stepping into that world without a wrestling background, survival often depends on quick adjustments, thicker skin, and learning lessons the hard way.
