Ex-WWE Star Begged Vince McMahon Not To Make Them Wrestle

Vince McMahon put a non-wrestler in the ring, despite their pleas not to.

After making her name as a manager in WCW and WWE, Terri Runnels was thrown into her first wrestling match in late 1999. This is despite the star having no desire to wrestle.

Runnels would go on to wrestle 28 times in total, with her last bout coming in November 2003.

While speaking to Ring The Belle, Runnels candidly admitted that she never wanted to wrestle and begged Vince McMahon not to put her in the ring. The star described the experience of learning to wrestle on the spot as “brutal.”

“Imagine getting to TVs. You love managing, you love everything about what you do, and then all of the sudden, one day they go, ‘Tonight, you’re going to wrestle in front of millions of people on live television.’ Not to mention the thousands and thousands in the arena that are packed here.

We’re going to teach you what you’re going to do in about 10 minutes from now. Yeah, it was brutal. I begged Vince, please don’t make me wrestle. Yeah, it was pretty clear that I was going to wrestle.”

Runnels added that she much preferred taking bumps as a manager rather than being expected to piece together a full match.

“All these women and people want to be wrestlers and train for years and years just to be able to wrestle and I didn’t want to. I loved taking bumps from the guys, Kane picked me up from the neck and tossed me to the front row chairs, Dudleys put me through the table, great.

But I did not want to wrestle and the bad thing was, I had to memorize it as if it were a ballet, which God forbid when they needed to go home early or stretch that match out, they’re like, ‘Terri is in the match, we can’t do either.’

Vince McMahon Launching New Company

On May 30, it was reported that Vince McMahon is in the early stages of launching his first post-WWE business venture. The company, named 14TH & I, is a “private investment firm focused on the sports, media, & entertainment sectors.”

There’s no indication that McMahon’s new project will involve professional wrestling, but its name is a reference to the location of the former Capitol Wrestling Corporation offices in Washington, D.C., in the 1950s and ’60s. The company is especially noteworthy as it eventually became WWE.

The new venture comes despite Vince McMahon still being involved in multiple lawsuits as he battles allegations of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

H/t to Fightful