Former WWE Superstar Elijah Burke recently sat down for an interview, and discussed turning down his first chance to start wrestling on WWE TV. The current NWA World Television Champion spoke about the group of male cheerleaders known as the Spirit Squad, and how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon intended on Burke being in the group. “Da Pope” explained:

“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.”

Burke gave some insight into what happened as a result of telling the boss no, and mentioned:

“[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.’”

Would you like to have seen “Da Pope” become Da… Cheerleader? Sound off in the comments section!

(H/T and transcribed by 411Mania)