During his appearance on Behind The Curtain, Elijah Burke spoke on turning down a role in the Spirit Squad and the backstage reaction. Here’s what he had to say:
That was correct. My self — well, I won’t get into the names…but I will say this. The opportunity was presented by Vince McMahon himself. And Vince McMahon told me along with the other original members of the Spirit Squad that we were going to make a lot of money because it was his idea. And he was going to push it obviously, because it was his own idea, his own creation. Vince got on a plane one day and thought to himself, ‘Ha! People hate cheerleaders, ha ha ha! I’ll get cheerleaders!’ And so, that’s what he did. He got some male cheerleaders, and he wanted me to be one of them. And I politely turned it down, as I didn’t think I could’ve did that role any justice.
[I got] a bunch of heat for turning it down by some of the boys who saw it as squandering an opportunity, you know, for telling Vince McMahon no. And Vince McMahon appreciated the fact that I was open, honest, and was man enough to say this it’s not for me. And Vince made sure that — he sent me back down to OVW and said, ‘We’ll bring you back when we have something for you.’
You can listen HERE.
Credit: Behind The Curtain. H/T 411Mania.