Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
A gimmick is something that is intended to hook the attention of fans to a wrestler. They may be outrageous or steeped more in reality, whatever the case may be…some have succeeded and many others have failed. The Gimmick Table takes a look at the origins of some of your favorite and not so favorite gimmicks of professional wrestlers.
Today we browse the gimmick of Val Venis
In 1998, WWF scout Victor Quinones referred a young Canadian wrestler named Sean Morley who spoke both English and Spanish to executive Bruce Prichard. Morley, who was a star in both Japan and Mexico…was brought to the company for a tryout. After some training at the WWF Funkin’ Dojo, Morley had a meeting with Vince McMahon. According to Morley, after meeting with Vince, McMahon had an idea for a porn star character for him. McMahon had the idea for an adult movie star character after viewing the film Boogie Nights. At first, Morley was told by Vince that he wanted him to portray a movie star who wrestles. Morley thought that meant he would be like Jesse Ventura…but Vince went further and stated it would be an Adult Film Star that wrestled.
According to Bruce Prichard, McMahon approached him and asked what he saw when he looked at Sean Morley. Bruce said the typical stuff, good looking, great physique, could cut a decent promo etc. Vince said to Bruce, he looks sleazy…he’s the man I want to play a wrestling porn star named Val Venis. The name and gimmick was all from the mind of Vince McMahon. Prichard and Morley do not know how McMahon came up with that name. Morley was 100% onboard with the gimmick, but Prichard and Jim Ross were not completely sold on it. Their main concerns were that a porn gimmick would limit the potential of Morley and basically pigeonhole him into a certain gimmick.
Despite their reservations, the Val Venis gimmick was moving forward. A series of vignettes were planned to introduce this new character to WWF audiences. Around that time, Paul Heyman informed Bruce Prichard that top real life porn star Jenna Jameson wanted to get into the wrestling business and was already used in ECW. Prichard thought, Jenna Jameson’s star power as an adult actress would help legitimize Val Venis. Four vignettes were filmed involving Venis and Jameson…but only two were used. Vince McMahon wanted to scrap all of them because he had no idea who Jenna was and the vignettes looked a little too sleazy. It took Prichard and Vince Russo to convince McMahon that was the whole point of the gimmick.
As far as all of Val’s mannerisms which included wearing a towel to the ring, the gyrations, the promos that all started with “Hello Ladies…” they were a collaboration from several people including Vince Russo, Vince McMahon and Sean Morley himself. The gimmick was initially penned to be a heel, but the fan reactions to the popular vignettes led the company to make him a babyface. Val Venis gimmick lasted in the company for over 10 years.
To browse other entries in the Gimmick Table series…Please Click Here.