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Many consider WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to be a genius, who transformed pro wrestling into a worldwide attraction in the '80s and '90s. McMahon has been credited with creating numerous great gimmicks and characters, but several former employees have also revealed how Vince McMahon has also pitched some bewildering gimmicks.
Former WWE writer Vince Russo revealed to Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview that McMahon's humor was "childlike and so juvenile".
But, it's not just Vince McMahon that has pitched ideas that can be classified as outlandish and a bit eccentric, as some Superstars in the past have done so too.
Here, we take a look at 5 bizarre ideas by WWE Superstars that were rejected by Vince McMahon:
#5 The Boogeyman was not allowed to eat other insects in WWE
The Boogeyman was one of the weirdest and creepiest gimmicks in recent WWE history. The former WWE Superstar had scary face paint, would carry around a clock, while nibbling on worms in his mouth. The Boogeyman quickly became a popular Superstar among fans in the mid 2000s, where he had a few funny comedic bits while being an intimidating character.
He wanted to take the character to the next level, by adding other creepy crawlies to his repertoire, but this was rejected by WWE. The Boogeyman revealed in an interview with Bleacher Report that WWE rejected the idea of The Boogeyman eating other insects because WWE had to pay an infestation clause!
“We had to pay an infestation clause, which would cost much more money. Worms were the only thing we could control.”
He revealed that arenas were worried that other insects could go out of control which is why they did not allow him to use maggots, crickets, and roaches on WWE television, which he wanted to use as part of his gimmick.
#4 The Dudley Boyz wanted to crush The Rock's throat in WWE
The Dudley Boyz- D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley- are two of the greatest tag team wrestlers in WWE history. The duo won tag team titles on 10 different occasions in WWE, and were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018 for their achievements.
The Dudley Boyz were popular during the Attitude Era, and put on some fantastic feuds with the likes of the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian. While speaking on Busted Open Radio, Bubba Ray revealed that they had a storyline idea that they pitched which got rejected.
He revealed that the storyline they pitched would have seen them crush The Rock's throat, thereby silencing the voice of the people.
"A long time ago, I pitched an idea to Vince McMahon about me and D-Von crushing The Rock's throat. So, The Rock couldn't talk anymore. I wanted to take away The People's voice from The People. Obviously, it never happened, but Vince told me that he really liked the idea."
But, Vince McMahon did not approve this idea, which sadly did not see the light of day.
#3 Brodie Lee as a collector of things in WWE
Brodie Lee, FKA as Luke Harper or Harper in WWE, was in Vince McMahon's promotion for a long time. He was with WWE from 2012 to 2019, before joining AEW in 2020.
The former member of the Wyatt Family was another underutilized Superstar in WWE who was frustrated with his spell in WWE and asked for his release, which was eventually granted to him after some delay.
After his release from WWE, he revealed that he had pitched a rather surprising gimmick idea to WWE, which was rejected. Brodie Lee said that he wanted to be a "collector", collecting something from every person he would beat:
"I wanted to be a collector of some sort..I'm very much into serial killers and stuff like that. So, I wanted to collect something from each person I would beat. I could speak like I do in a very intelligent way and like break my opponents down in a way, that I wasn't doing in the Wyatt family."
This idea was shot down by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, which is a surprise as it seemed like a unique idea, one that hadn't been done before.
#2 Cody Rhodes wanted a hairless cat in WWE
It feels like Cody Rhodes' run in WWE was a lifetime ago! The current AEW EVP left WWE back in 2016, after being frustrated with the creative direction of his character. After a run in the independent scene, as well as NJPW, he helped establish AEW.
Cody revealed earlier this year on The Dan Le Baturd Show that during a tough phase that he went through in WWE, he sought the help of his father, the legendary Dusty Rhodes. He revealed that a lot of the ideas that they came up with were not given the approval by WWE.
One of them was to have a hairless cat while portraying the Stardust character. He said that it was "absurd pieces of business", although his father stood by him through this tough creative phase:
"Stardust, when I was doing the Stardust character, I really wanted to have a hairless cat. So my poor dad, he's trying to produce this promo, and I've got this hairless cat in there in the makeup and the glitter. And he's watching his son just absurd pieces of business, but he was always really helpful." (H/T WrestlingInc)
He revealed that being himself has brought him success, which came as a result of these failed gimmicks in WWE.
#1 Goldust getting surgery during his run with WWE
Cody's brother Dustin Rhodes had a far longer and more successful WWE career, portraying the Goldust character. The character, an androgynous gimmick, was quite a bold move by WWE in the '90s, but it soon became quite successful.
Goldust went on to win numerous mid-card titles in WWE, and had quite a few memorable comedic segments. Goldust was a bit skeptical about the character at first, but then went on head-on with it, and he was even willing to get surgery to make him look more like... ermm, a woman.
Bruce Prichard, who worked backstage in WWE back in the '90s as well, revealed that Goldust's gimmick was not going anywhere, which is why he pitched to get implants:
“He had pitched it to everybody around Vince McMahon except Vince McMahon so Vince knew what Goldust was going to pitch him and he had already heard it. He had heard it from me; he had heard it from Vince Russo; he had heard it from Jim Ross. There was no way in hell that Vince McMahon was going to allow him to do this."
Vince McMahon eventually talked Goldust out of this bizarre idea.
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