WWE veteran details hilarious backstage prank
WWE Attitude Era veteran Val Venis has discussed a backstage prank played on him by Owen Hart.
Hart was a staple of WWE until his untimely passing in 1999, at the Over The Edge pay-per-view. At the tragic event, Hart, portraying his Blue Blazer character, fell to his death when the harness he was descending on malfunctioned. Prior to his tragic death, Hart was also known for his infectious sense of humor and backstage pranks.
Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Val Venis discussed Hart's backstage antics during a recent interview. In a clip uploaded to the WSI - Wrestling Shoot Interviews YouTube Channel, Venis, real-name Sean Morley, discussed Owen playing a prank on him. During a hotel check-in, several wrestlers were sought out by autograph hunters:
"This one cat had long, dark, stringy hair, kinda greasy looking. Had a stack of Val Venis photos about that thick. And he comes up and he goes 'hey, Val, would you mind signing all these for me?' And I go, 'bro, I'm not gonna sign those for you. We could talk, y'know, that's some money, we can talk, I'll sign those for ya, but I'm not gonna sit out here and sign all of those for ya,'" Morley said. (2:33 - 2:58)
Val Venis then noted that the autograph hunter left soon after, but Owen Hart had something in mind for The Big Valvowski:
"Other kids are coming up 'hey, can you sign my action figure?' So he goes, 'okay' and walks away, and little did I know that Owen was behind me, and he had heard this," continued Morley. (2:59 - 3:12)
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Owen Hart had a surprise in store for the WWE veteran
After checking into his hotel room later that night, Val Venis received a call from a man who was allegedly the autograph hunter.
The voice on the phone was confrontational with Morley, citing his failure to sign the pictures as the reason why. After getting into a verbal fracas with the supposed autograph hunter, Venis got dressed and went to confront the man.
However, when he got downstairs, he found only Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett, who told him the hunter had already left. Hart and Jarrett made the call themselves, a fact they hid from Morley for months:
"This show, Off The Record in Toronto, Canada, with Michael Landsberg, and I think that's where it was. Edge and I were scheduled for that show, and while were were sitting there getting ready, sitting in the studio, in front of the camera, and we're getting ready to start this whole interview up, and he gets a text from Owen Hart, and it's something along the lines like "Hey, you can tell Val now," he added (5:40 - 6:07)
Venis found out the truth about the incident from fellow WWE veteran Edge months down the line, just before an interview on a famous talk show. This, he noted, was infuriating to him.
What do you think about Val Venis' comments? What is your favorite Owen Hart moment in WWE? You can share your thoughts in the comment section down below.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit WSI - Wrestling Shoot Interviews and H/T Sportskeeda for transcriptions