Buddy Murphy Admits Which WWE Storyline He Wasn’t Comfortable With

Buddy Murphy was released by the WWE last month and has recently given a number of interviews looking back on his time with the company. One of the strangest chapters in the former Cruiserweight Champion’s tenure came last year when he wound up in a romantic relationship with Aalyah Mysterio, Rey Mysterio’s 19-year-old daughter. Murphy’s big problem with the angle, as was the case with many WWE fans, was the noticeable age gap between the two. He explained in an interview with Chris Van Vliet this week (h/t WrestlingNews.co), “I wasn’t comfortable kissing Aalyah. I did that because it was my job and it was going to create more drama in the story. Originally, there was no kiss scripted. They [the producers] went and they talked to Vince about something. They come back and they pitch it to me but they are kind of like weird. Then they say ‘…and then you kiss her.’ I start laughing and go ‘f— off.’ But then they are like ‘No we are serious.’ I look at the other producer and he was like [nods head]. I’m like ‘No way! How did you come back with this?’”

“My whole thing was I had to play it very carefully,” he continued. “I said to them ‘I’m not going to express feelings to her. I can’t pursue her, she has to pursue me.’ This was because of the age difference. You don’t make it any easier when you use my birthday as ‘the message.’ So now you have given them [fans] the information of how old is he? How old is she? What? I think them saying ‘Happy birthday’ basically just outed that. I wasn’t comfortable with it, but they didn’t help with the situation. I’m like ‘What does she [Aalyah] think about it’ They go ‘She’s cool with it.’ I’m like ‘What!’ They went to her first, I thought she was going to shoot it down. So then I go ‘What about Rey?’ they say ‘They’re okay with it?’ I’m like well if they are okay with it, I can’t be the one that goes whatever. I was very blunt with them, I can’t pursue her, if I do, I’m a creep. I’m a ‘pedo’ as people say on the internet. If she goes for me, she’s an empowered woman that knows what she wants. I think they sold her on a Hollywood-style kiss. I’m not in Hollywood, what’s a Hollywood-style kiss? They explain the camera shots. We are live on TV you can’t do these behind the head camera shots. There are 8 cameras on you, who knows which one they are going to shoot you on. If there’s a gap, the whole thing is done. Seth was nervous about it, because this whole storyline rides on this one kiss. I’m uncomfortable, and she’s new. We are out there and about to cut the promo and I said to her this needs to look good. If you have any second minds, I am giving you the green light. Do whatever you want, it’s 100% you. Do what you need to do, this needs to look good. It looked great, the aftermath wasn’t great for me. But we are both adults, we are both acting, we gave each other a high 5 after it and that was it.”

The angle was suddenly dropped in November as both Murphy and Aalyah stopped appearing on television Murphy briefly tried to reunite with Rollins earlier in the year but was promptly shut down. On Monday night the Australian star had his first post-WWE match confirmed, as he’ll take on AEW’s Brian Cage for the Battleground Championship Wresting Promotion on Sept. 18 in Philadelphia.