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Former WWE writer Vince Russo was surprised when Vince McMahon was talked out of his idea for a bear to face The Rock in the ring.
On his podcast, Bruce Prichard, WWE's Executive Director, recently revealed that McMahon pitched for a real-life bear to face The Rock to celebrate the company being listed on NYSE.
While speaking on The Bro Show, Russo said wrestlers facing bears in the ring was done before by the likes of Al Snow, which is where McMahon may have gotten the idea. Russo said he was surprised McMahon was talked out of the idea:
"Al Snow actually wrestled a bear. That's a shoot. Tracy Smothers wrestled a bear. That's a shoot. So this was a thing. I swear to god, I'm really surprised more than anything that they were able to talk him out of it. That was the surprising part to me because...a lot of people were watching the show really not understanding that was a thing. Vince (McMahon) didn't just come up with this idea, Vince had seen this done before. I can't believe, if it was Bruce (Prichard) or whoever it was, I can't believe they talked him (McMahon) out of it." (from 25:34 to 26:20)
WWE star Kevin Owens was to referee a match between a human and a bear
WWE star Kevin Owens recently revealed he was going to be the referee for a match between a pro wrestler and a bear:
"Early in my career, I was the referee for a man vs. bear match. PCO, who people watching this will probably know. He wrestled a bear once, and he asked me to referee, so if things went awry, I'd be there to help him."
The bear, though, refused to take part in the match with PCO, and PCO attacked the referee, Owens, to salvage the segment.
Please credit The Bro Show and embed the Instagram video if you use any above quotes.
