"Why aren’t we doing this?"- How Vince McMahon changed a superstar's gimmick
Former WWE Superstar Chuck Palumbo recently opened up on how Vince McMahon changed his on-screen character in 2007.
Chuck Palumbo donned a biker persona on WWE SmackDown during his final run in the company in 2006-2008. He disclosed how Vince McMahon greenlit the idea of a biker during a backstage conversation with him.
Palumbo had built a motorcycle that was featured in a magazine at the time. He showed it to Vince McMahon and the WWE Chairman found the idea promising, and they went ahead with a modification in his character. Check out Palumbo's account below:
“At the time, I built this motorcycle that was featured in a magazine, and I was talking to Vince [McMahon] and I showed him. And he said, ‘Well, why aren’t we doing this?’ I said, ‘Well, it never came up,’ and that’s how it all kind of started. I started doing vignettes. It was an extension of who I was, per se, motorcycles, working on bikes [and] wrenching.” [quotes courtesy WrestlingInc.]
Vince McMahon approved Palumbo's WWE character in mid-2007
Vince McMahon certainly believed that a biker gimmick would work for Palumbo in WWE. On the May 25, 2007 episode of Sunday Night Heat, the character made its debut and defeated Charlie Haas. He soon made his return to SmackDown and put down Kenny Dykstra too.
Palumbo then kicked off an onscreen relationship with Michelle McCool and the couple had a short-lived feud with Kenny Dykstra & Victoria. Palumbo then feuded with Jamie Noble and accidentally hurt McCool during a match that eventually caused a rift in their relationship.
McCool split with Palumbo and the enraged superstar exacted revenge on Jamie Noble for it, defeating him in a singles match. The biker gimmick didn't do much of note for Palumbo and he was released from WWE in late 2008.
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