The “Lemon Pepper Steppers” shirt may already be gone from WWE Shop, but the fallout isn’t going away anytime soon. Jonathan Coachman has now weighed in on the controversy, and he thinks fans are pointing the finger at the wrong person.
While speaking on Two Count Tuesday, Coachman didn’t hold back when the now-infamous shirt was brought up. Looking at the design featuring Trick Williams’ boot surrounded by chicken wings and dripping sauce, he couldn’t believe it ever made it onto WWE Shop in the first place. Even with the shirt already pulled, he said the bigger question is how anyone thought it was a good idea to begin with.
“Lemon pepper stepper. And then how about a bunch of chicken wings around a… Oh my god. $400 boot on the… I mean… And they also, I believe, have ranch or blue cheese that’s dripping off. I mean, this is so bad. This is so bad.”
Coachman then shifted the conversation away from the design itself and toward Trick Williams. He explained that fans shouldn’t assume the NXT star had much say in the situation because that’s simply not how WWE merchandise works. Drawing from his own years with the company, Coachman said younger wrestlers are usually thrilled just to be getting an official shirt, and many are too nervous to criticize whatever concept is presented to them.
“When you walk in and they tell you, ‘Hey, you got to meet with the merch people.’ When you’re young like Trick… I’ve seen it a million times with my own two eyes. You walk over, ‘Hey, here’s the first idea.’ ‘Love it. Love it. Love it.’ Because you’re scared to death to say that you don’t love it because not everybody gets a T-shirt.”
To make his point, Coachman brought up Karrion Kross, recalling how hard Kross had to fight just to get WWE to sell one of his shirts. His point was simple: getting merchandise isn’t guaranteed, so many performers don’t want to risk rocking the boat by rejecting a design.
“Remember Karrion Kross? He had to beg to get his T-shirt sold in the arena and then when they did it sold out like hotcakes. Not everybody gets one.”
That’s why Coachman pushed back so strongly against the idea that Trick was responsible for the shirt. In his eyes, there are far too many people involved in WWE’s merchandising process for the blame to land on the talent.
“I want to know who, A, came up with this, who greenlit it, because it wasn’t Trick. A talent cannot walk in and go, ‘Yep,’ and then they print it and then they sell it. It had to be the merch, the creative.”
The discussion took another interesting turn after they replayed Triple H admitting he didn’t even understand what “Lemon Pepper Steppers” meant. Coachman found it hard to reconcile that with the fact WWE still built and sold a shirt around the phrase. Coachman immediately pointed out the irony.
“So, you got your head of creative doesn’t even know what they are, but we’re selling the T-shirt. We’re selling the T-shirt.”
Looking back on his own WWE career, Coachman said he actually felt bad for Trick. He remembered how exciting it was whenever talent received an action figure, an entrance video or their first piece of official merchandise. That’s why he wishes he could’ve seen Trick’s reaction when the shirt first dropped, because he suspects the excitement of getting a shirt quickly turned into disappointment once the backlash exploded.
“I want to have the camera on Trick when this came out. Trust me, when you get an action figure, a shirt, an entrance video, those were some of the best moments of my career.”
The shirt may have disappeared from WWE Shop almost as quickly as it arrived, but Coachman believes the bigger issue hasn’t been answered. For him, the real mystery isn’t why WWE pulled the shirt—it’s how a design that drew so much criticism ever made it through the company’s approval process in the first place.
Do you agree with Coachman that Trick Williams shouldn’t be taking the blame, or do you think talent should have more input before merchandise goes on sale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
