Bizarre WWE Character Allegedly Based On Real Person In Vince McMahon’s Life

Wrestling fans who are familiar with the works of Vince McMahon know about his penchant for wacky characters.

As one of WWE’s top brass, McMahon had the final say on many characters. At the same time, he pitched ideas for creating new stories.

Under his leadership, WWE introduced several over-the-top personas through the years. While gimmicks such as The Boogeyman gained a cult following, characters like Bastion Booger and Akeem “The African Dream” aged poorly.

Another character that achieved mild success was Festus, played by Luke Gallows.

Festus was introduced in WWE around 2007 as part of the Jesse and Festus tag team duo.

The character had a mental disability-inspired gimmick, who was generally docile, but became ferocious when the bell rang. Reportedly, Vince McMahon‘s inspiration for the character came from someone he personally knew during his youth.

Luke Gallows Reveals How Festus Came To Be In WWE

Former WWE star Luke Gallows discussed Festus during an exclusive interview with PWMania.

Gallows shared the backstory, which involved Jesse being paired with Henry Godwinn as a repackaged version of the Godwinns. However, the latter left WWE due to some issues.

When the promotion began try outs for Jesse’s new partner, he took his chance and managed to land the gimmick, which was altered last-minute.

We were supposed to debut as Jesse and Justice Dalton, pig farmers in overalls. Then, right before our first TV match, they pulled us aside: “Vince wants to see you.”

So we go into Vince’s office, and he explains this Festus character to me—saying he knew someone catatonic as a kid, which I’m pretty sure was bullshit. (laughs) But he starts doing the Festus face at me, tongue out and all, and makes me do it back. “Not like that, goddamn it—like this!” Here I am, 23 years old, never spoken to Vince before, and suddenly we’re sticking our tongues out at each other. Totally surreal.

Then he looks at Ray Gordy and asks, “What’s your favorite color?” Ray goes, “Yellow.” Vince says, “Good. Get a yellow singlet—you’ll be the handler.” And that was it—Jesse and Festus were born.

Luke Gallows also recalled how Vince McMahon’s return to WWE in 2023 made things weird. Read about it here.