Brock Lesnar was supposed to throw ex-WWE star through the stage before creative nixed the idea
Brock Lesnar feuded with a variety of wrestlers during his first WWE run between 2002 and 2004, including Zach Gowen. In a recent interview, Gowen disclosed details about the original plan for one of their most memorable moments.
On the September 4, 2003, episode of SmackDown, Lesnar pushed the wheelchair-bound Gowen down a flight of stairs during a backstage segment. A month earlier, The Beast Incarnate busted the one-legged wrestler's face open in front of his mother at ringside.
Gowen said on Insight with Chris Van Vliet that he and Lesnar were initially supposed to participate in a spectacular stunt on the stage area:
"So the wheelchair spot, that wasn't a wheelchair spot to begin with. The original idea, I don't know if we've talked about this, the original idea was for Brock Lesnar to F-5 me off of the SmackDown fist through the stage. That was the original idea."
The SmackDown fist was positioned above the area where wrestlers make their entrances. The stage design, used between 2001 and 2008, is one of the most popular in WWE history.
Why Brock Lesnar did not F-5 Zach Gowen off the SmackDown fist
At the time, the likes of Jeff Hardy and Shane McMahon often received loud crowd reactions after performing high-risk stunts.
Zach Gowen was excited to follow in their footsteps and produce a daredevil moment of his own. However, WWE's creative team struggled to come up with a logical reason for him and Lesnar to be in such a precarious position.
"Brock Lesnar was going to toss me off this bad boy and I was gonna go through the stage," Gowen said. "That was the plan for like two or three weeks, we had to pivot, so to speak, to the wheelchair spot down the stairs because creative, we couldn't figure out a plausible way for me and Brock Lesnar to be on top of the fist."
Gowen also shed light on what Lesnar was like in real life during their WWE rivalry in 2003.
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