Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson were recently guests on the Steve Austin Show podcast. During the podcast, they shot the breeze about a wide variety of topics and even sprinkled in some wrestling talk.
One of the best parts of the podcast was when Gallows shared the backstory behind his infamous ‘Festus’ character.
Gallows says that he was called into Vince McMahon’s office when he was new to WWE. He thought that he might be getting fired but Vince had an idea for a gimmick for him.
Gallows says that Vince started telling him a story about a kid that he knew in school. The kid was slow but would snap if someone made him angry.
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Vince’s idea was for Gallows to play a character based on that kid. In the office, Vince had Gallows practice the “Festus Face” over and over again until he got it right. Eventually, Gallows nailed the face and the Festus gimmick was born.
Gallows’ tag team partner Jesse (aka Ray Gordy) was also in the room with them. Vince asked Jesse what his favorite color was, which he replied: ‘yellow’. Vince decided that Jesse would wear a yellow singlet and would be the handler for Festus. As a result, the Jesse & Festus gimmick was born.
Moral of the story, the gimmick was based on a kid that Vince knew when he was younger…..