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Paul London says Vince McMahon stopped him from performing the Shooting Star Press in WWE.
London worked for WWE between 2003 and 2008, during which time he won tag titles with Billy Kidman and Brian Kendrick. Following Kidman’s release from the company, the one-time Cruiserweight Champion began using his former tag team partner’s Shooting Star Press as his finisher.
Speaking on Rene Dupree’s Cafe de Rene podcast, London recalled the time he hit Nunzio with the move during a match on Velocity. Although the locker room gave him a standing ovation backstage, McMahon decided to put an immediate stop to the high-flying move.
“Vince was like, ‘If you start doing that move, other guys are gonna wanna start doing it, and Rey [Mysterio] is gonna start doing it,’” London said. “I was like, ‘Rey’s not gonna do that! Nobody’s gonna do that move. It’s my finisher.’ ‘Oh, so you want us to make an exception for you?’ Jesus Christ, it’s like I’m talking to a goddam mannequin.” [7:09-7:27]
The Shooting Star Press is widely regarded as one of the most impressive moves in wrestling. To execute the acrobatic stunt, a wrestler performs a forward-moving backflip from the top rope before landing chest-first onto their grounded opponent.
A former WWE agent spoke to Vince McMahon about the move
Wrestling legend Dean Malenko produced Paul London’s match against Nunzio. He told London before they entered Vince McMahon’s office that he would try to convince the WWE Chairman to reverse his Shooting Star Press ban.
Unfortunately, according to London, Malenko’s attempt to persuade McMahon to change his mind quickly backfired.
“We walk in and, I kid you not, in under a minute, we go in, he looks at Vince, he’s like, ‘Excuse me, sir, what is this you don’t want him [doing]? No more top-rope moves?’” London said. “He goes, ‘Yeah, no more off the top,’ and Dean just goes, ‘Okay,’ and just walks out. The tail was not only between his legs, it was up his a**.” [2:11-2:42]
London decided to stand up for himself after Malenko left the room, which led to his aforementioned discussion with McMahon.
Please credit Cafe de Rene and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
