Tyrus, formerly known as Brodus Clay in WWE had appeared on the main roster as a heel bodyguard for fellow former WWE star Alberto Del Rio between March-May back in 2011. In November of the same year, WWE had released some vignettes promoting his return as a heel.However, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had other plans and decided to turn Tyrus babyface. The former WWE star recently revealed the reason behind Vince McMahon coming up with the surprising decision to turn him babyface.
Tyrus opens up on the conversation about his babyface turn
Tyrus spoke on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, and reminisced how WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry once filmed him making jokes at Yoshi Tatsu’s expense in the locker room. Henry shared the light-hearted footage with McMahon, who thought the six-foot-eight star had the right personality to portray a good guy. However, it turns out Tyrus was not in favor of the idea but later embraced the new character:
“They approached me with being a babyface and my answer was basically, ‘F no, not interested. Maybe at some point, but not now,’” Tyrus said. “Basically, I rejected [the idea], but I didn’t know where it was coming from [McMahon], so it was frowned upon a little bit.”
The Game informed Tyrus that McMahon also wanted him to dance. Lord Tensai’s former tag team partner disliked the abrupt shift in the gimmick and asked then-NXT coach Dusty Rhodes for advice:
“I immediately said, ‘Can I go see Dusty? Can I go deal with Dusty? He’ll know what to do,’” Tyrus continued. “The other caveat, he [Triple H] is like, ‘He thinks you should dance too.’ I was just like, ‘What? I don’t dance.’ Even when I was in the clubs bodyguarding I didn’t dance.”
Tyrus eventually received his release from WWE in June 2014. He is currently a part of the NWA.
