Former WWE Star Ken Doane was recently interviewed by ESPN. Doane is best known for his time in WWE as a member of the Spirit Squad faction.
Here are some of the highlights from the interview.
Doane on how Vince McMahon pitched the Spirit Squad gimmick to them:
“[McMahon] turned and said, ‘Guys, this is my idea. It’s gonna work because I’m telling you it will work. He said, ‘I want cheerleaders. Male cheerleaders. There’s nothing that gets more heat than male cheerleaders.’ I kinda looked at the other guys out of the corner of my eye like, ‘Is this a joke? This is a good joke. You guys went all the way out to get Vince in on this?'”
The group had plans to burst into Vince’s office with full cheers and air horns to try and convince him to put them on TV. John Laurinaitis had this to say to them before they made the move:
“I remember he kind of chuckled and was like, ‘Are you serious? And we’re like, ‘Yeah.’ And I think he said something like, ‘Well, either it will work or you’ll be fired.'”
Vince’s reaction after they did it:
“Vince just looked up, smiled and said, ‘You’re gonna be on Raw next week.'”
Speaking of Vince, here are some hilarious backstage stories about the WWE Chairman.