WWE News: Former Superstar says Vince McMahon came up with his Attitude Era gimmick

What's the story?

Former WWE Superstar Val Venis recently talked with Wrestling Inc.'s Andy Malnoske at WrestleCon and discussed a variety of topics.

Venis said that Vince McMahon came up with the idea of his character, but it took some time to tweak the persona.

In case you didn't know...

Val Venis was a mainstay in WWE for more than a decade. He was one of the most controversial and popular WWE Superstars during the Attitude Era but never made it to the main event scene.

Venis held several titles during his lengthy WWE run, including the Intercontinental Championship, World Tag Team Championship, and the European Championship. His gimmick was a perfect suit for the time, with WWE going to great lengths to compete with its rival, World Championship Wrestling.

The heart of the matter

While talking about the origin of his character, Venis stated that its success was due to the fact that it had never been done before, plus it was controversial. He added that Vince McMahon came up with the original idea of the character.

Vince McMahon came up with the name 'Val Venis' and the general idea of the character.

Venis further said that his catchphrase of "Hello, ladies" and the jokes associated with it came up during the development of the character, after producing a bunch of vignettes to introduce the gimmick.

It was in development from day one and continued to evolve. It took a long time to really develop into the towel-wearing, 'hello ladies' character that ultimately it blew up into.

What's next?

With the impact he had on the TV product during possibly the greatest era in pro-wrestling, Val Venis is bound to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame somewhere down the line.

---

What are your thoughts on Val Venis? Was he underutilized in WWE?