WWE News: Rejected RAW 25 segment for Legend revealed

What's the story?

As reported last week, it wasn't just a large portion of the WWE Universe left unhappy with how the WWE alumni women were used on RAW 25, as Terri Runnels spoke out about her dissatisfaction.

Terri Runnels has now revealed the original segment that was pitched for her to appear in, but that Vince McMahon rejected "to give her a spotlight" on the show.

In case you didn't know...

After hyping the return of groundbreaking women from WWE's past, the legendary ladies were confined to standing on the stage and waving, as you can see below.

Runnels was a mainstay on WWE television in the 90s and was best known as the manager of real-life ex-husband Goldust.

In fact, the former Pretty Mean Sisters Superstar even held the WWE Hardcore Championship at one point, after pinning Crash Holly.

While Runnels acknowledged that it was probably just down to lack of time, she was disappointed with the appearance.

"I just think it ended up being a time thing; 'We don't know what else to do, let's just have them come out and wave.' I don't know, it was just disappointing because I loved my WWE family and all of that and it was just disappointing. It was a let down."

The heart of the matter

On a recent episode of her Cigars, Scars and Superstars podcast, transcribed by Wrestling Inc, Terri Runnels revealed what she had originally expected the role to be - after Goldust himself pitched an idea to Vince McMahon.

Having worked as her former husband's manager under the ring name Marlena during the Attitude Era, Runnels expected to be able to appear alongside him on the landmark show, but Vince McMahon apparently thought it would be unfair to the other Superstars to give Runnels a spotlight and thus grouped them together.

Runnels revealed that the original segment would purely see her accompany Goldust to the ring for his scheduled match against Enzo Amore - which, of course, didn't happen as Enzo was suspended on the day of RAW 25 before being released immediately after.

"We were all told to meet at the stage for a rehearsal. I had kind of had a bit of a heads up, and I hope I am not spoiling anything when I say this but Dustin [Rhodes] had said to Vince [McMahon] that, since she is going to be here anyways, 'I would like for her to walk me to the ring.'"

However, it wasn't to be when Vince McMahon rejected the idea and wanted Runnels to be grouped with the other ladies, and not be there just to accompany Goldust and be in his shadow, as it were.

"I loved that idea, and Vince said to him, 'No because she is going to have her own spotlight.' I asked him what that meant about me having my own spotlight? Would I be going out to the ring with him and there's going to be a spotlight on me? He said that he doesn't know but that I was going to have my own spotlight."

Runnels also hinted that she was not the only disappointed Superstar at how the segment eventually played out.

"I get there and they call all the girls and we get to the stage and they literally said that we are going to call you out in this order and this is the mark you are going to stand on; you are going to wave and walk back. We all kind of dropped our jaws and said, 'You have to be kidding me!'"

The former manager also spoke of emailing Vince McMahon to tell him she was bringing her gold dresses just in case he changed his mind and stated that she didn't want her own spotlight to be special, but felt like everyone was misused.

Terri Runnels and Dustin Rhodes have been divorced since 1999 but have an amicable relationship and share a daughter - but both had agreed that they would love to appear together to give the fans a glimpse of nostalgia.

"Fans want that. They want to see Marlena and Goldust. That was a really cool gimmick the way we used to be. I believe the young fans who don't have any memory of Goldust and Marlena, I think that they would grab a hold of it as before."

Runnels also commented that Enzo Amore was supposed to be first at the table in the APA segment and that his suspension effectively erased Goldust from RAW's history for that night - as he neither appeared in the ring or in any video packages.

"Enzo's situation affected him. Dustin is a huge part of Raw and literally he was not in any video montage; all the 25 that they threw up all those moments in Raw history, I did not see him there. That was a huge part that was missing and you know, that was wrong. I really felt bad for him about that."

"He is my child's father. I am really proud of Dustin. Proud of the way he lives his life now. He is an incredible father to Dakota [Runnels] and he's busted his a** for Raw fans for so long and he was just left out. I realized that it wasn't planned to leave him out, but it just sucked."

What's next?

While Runnels' appearance on WWE RAW 25 was probably a one-off, you can hear her open up about more of her time in WWE on her podcast Cigars, Scars and Superstars.

Author's take

I don't think anyone was really happy with how this segment went and while the original pitch for Runnels would have solved one problem and been a cool throwback, by far it wouldn't have saved RAW as a lot of other talents were misused too.

I appreciate the time constraints that WWE had, but getting Goldust on TV as one of WWE's longest-serving Superstars should have been a priority, and a throwback with Runnels as Marlena would have been very nice to see.

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