‘They were terrified’: Truth about infamous Sunrise on-air confrontation

Millions watched as this savage on-air stoush went viral. Now, the “disrespected” guest involved has revealed what really happened.

Australian wrestler Grayson Waller has opened up about a disastrous appearance on Sunrise earlier this year that ended with him squaring off against one of the show’s crew members on camera.

Waller appeared alongside fellow wrestler LA Knight on a January episode of Sunrise, with hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Doran about an upcoming WWE event.

The interview went south when Barr asked the wrestlers to demonstrate some of their “signature moves” on her. When Waller refused, she offered up a crew member instead.

As the show’s floor manager walked into shot, fists up and ready to fight, Waller snapped.

“I don’t think you understand – if I come over there right now, we’re going to have the police here, cos I’m not going to give you some fake punch. I’m going to punch you straight in the jaw,” he said, rising from his seat as Doran also leapt up to contain him.

Grayson Waller (left) rises to the occasion on Sunrise in January this year.

The hosts advised the crew member to make a hasty exit, while Waller, still on his feet, continued ranting about the “disrespect” he’d been subjected to.

A visibly rattled Barr and Doran then quickly wrapped up the segment.

The segment soon went viral on social media, where it amassed more than 1.5m views on X – amid much debate about whether Waller was just putting on an act for the cameras.

Now, in a new interview with podcast host Chris Van Vliet, Waller confirmed his anger on the day was very much real.

“I hate when people disrespect what we do, and treat it as a joke. Sometimes when you do these morning TV [shows], they’re doing 16 interviews a day. They don’t know who anyone is. Like, I understand why it happened,” Waller explained.

Waller says he was smarting at the “disrespect” he’d been shown.

“But it was when the sound guy or whoever came up and did his little thing: ‘I’ll take a punch!’. It’s like; You don’t realise what we do.”

Waller said that after the segment was over, he could see his on-camera outburst had “terrified” the Sunrise team.

“When they turned off the cameras, they were terrified. I was having fun. They didn’t know that. But I think we need to protect what we do. If someone’s so disrespectful to your face, I’m not going to sit there and take it.”

Waller also said jet lag had played a part in his emotional reaction: The US-based Aussie, a former school teacher, had flown home to Australia specifically to do press to promote the upcoming WWE show.

“I’ve flown 30 hours to be here. I’m doing this for you, you’re not doing anything for me. I’m doing way bigger things over in the States,” he said.

A rattled Nat Barr and Matt Doran quickly wrapped up the segment.

But despite the confrontation, Waller insisted the hapless Sunrise floor manager was never in danger of getting smacked.

“I’m not going to hit him. This isn’t the 1980s where you prove a point that way. I just wanted him to respect what I did a little bit more.”

Waller, whose real name is Matthew Farrelly, might be familiar to reality TV fans – he was a controversial contestant on the 2019 season of Australian Survivor, where he proved divisive among his fellow contestants and viewers due to his aggressive nature in challenges.

Teammate and former AFL player Abby Holmes dubbed him an “actual idiot,” but Farrelly soon embraced the epithet, selling “ACTUAL IDIOT” T-shirts at his wrestling matches.

“I had a feeling that most of my airtime was probably going to be me yelling and screaming, and I’m OK with that,” he told news.com.au after his elimination from the show.