Former WWE Superstar reveals that Vince McMahon had a hand in comical ring name

Former WWE Superstar Val Venis has discussed Vince McMahon and Vince Russo pitching him his Attitude Era gimmick.

Val Venis had an eleven-year-long tenure with the WWE, which saw him capture both the Intercontinental and European Championships. Arguably his most notable run on WWE TV came on Monday Night RAW during the Attitude Era, where the real-life Sean Morely began portraying a former adult film star in 1998.

Now, The Big Valbowski has detailed the exact conversation he had with WWE higher-ups about bringing the character to TV. In a recent clip uploaded to the WSI - Wrestling Shoot Interviews YouTube Channel, Venis described a phone call with Vince McMahon and Vince Russo to outline the nature of the character. Venis noted that he was working in Mexico at the time, where he received an early call from the former WWE CEO.

"When I was in Mexico, it was Vince Russo who came up with the Val Venis character, and so they called me, Vince Russo and Vince McMahon, it was 7 in the morning Mexico City time, so I'm guessing it was about 9 or 10 in the North East, up in the New York/Connecticut area. And he calls me, and Vince says, 'Hey, we got this character, his name's Val Venis', with a last name spelt V-E-N-I-S,'" he said. (4:09 - 4:36)

The two WWE higher-ups then went into greater detail on the character, which confused real-life Sean Morley.

"Now, when he spelled out the last name for me I'm thinking, that's a weird way to spell 'Venis', but whatever. And he says, 'now, Val Venis was a former film star, turned pro wrestler.' and the first thing that pops into my head is Jesse Venture, Hollywood Hogan, this stuff's already been done," he said. (4:37 - 4:58)

You can watch the video below:

Eventually Vince McMahon and Vince Russo cleared things up for Val Venis

Though Sean Morley was initially apprehensive about portraying the gimmick, Vince McMahon and Vince Russo were able to clarify things for him.

Continuing his explanation of the pitch during his WSI interview, Morely noted that Val's former career was explained more deeply as the conversation went on.

"But then, a few seconds after he had mentioned that Val Venis was a former film star turned pro wrestler, he goes 'actually, a former adult film star turned pro wrestler.' And I go, 'Now, hey, that's gonna be good,'" he added. (5:20 - 5:32)

Val Venis also discussed a brawl between JBL and other Attitude Era star during a recent interview. You can read more about that by clicking right here.

What did you think of Val Venis' comments? What did you think of his conversation with Vince McMahon? You can share your thoughts in the comment section down below.

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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit WSI - Wrestling Shoot Interviews and H/T Sportskeeda for transcriptions