Details on Vince McMahon going against WWE's entire creative team with unpopular booking decision

John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) recently disclosed how Vince McMahon proved WWE’s creative team wrong before a tag team match at Backlash 2017.

The SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view saw The Usos retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Fandango and Tyler Breeze. The nine-minute contest revolved around comedy spots, with Breeze disguising himself as a janitor and an elderly woman.

JBL, a WWE commentator at the time, said on The Universal Wrestling Podcast that the company’s higher-ups wanted to book a straightforward wrestling match. However, Vince McMahon made the unpopular call to build the bout around Breeze’s comedic antics.

“Everybody in the room disagreed with Vince. He wanted to bring out a mop at one point. Everybody’s against it and I’m sitting at the back and I’m pretty much against it too, but I’m not gonna say anything because I can tell, first of all, Vince had his mind made up, and second of all, sometimes he’s right!” JBL said. [32:10-32:48]

The fans in attendance chanted “Mop! Mop! Mop!” when Breeze used a mop while performing as a janitor. Chants of “Let’s go grandma!” could also be heard when he entered the ring dressed as an elderly lady.

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Road Dogg's reaction to Vince McMahon's suggestion

As WWE’s Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon ultimately has the final say on every match outcome and storyline development on his television shows.

Reflecting on the backstage feeling before and after the match, JBL said ex-head writer Road Dogg was among those who thought the idea might work:

“Road Dogg afterwards I remember him sitting there saying, ‘You know, it could be like chocolate and vanilla ice cream, they’re both good… this may work.’ Nobody thought it would work. It worked like gangbusters! It was unbelievable how over they were after that match. Everybody’s like, ‘Okay, maybe you [McMahon] know just a little bit.’” [33:00-33:19]

Backlash 2017 also featured Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship win over Randy Orton and a United States Championship match between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens. The Usos’ victory against Fandango and Tyler Breeze was widely considered to be the best match of the night.

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Please credit The Universal Wrestling Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.