WWE News: Vince Russo on how the Stephanie McMahon/Test angle was to end
What’s the story?
During the latest edition of his Podcast, former WWE, WCW and TNA head writer Vince Russo spoke on what was originally set to happen with the relationship angle between Stephanie McMahon and the late Andrew 'Test' Martin.
In case you didn’t know…
WWE had high hopes for Test in 1999. Test and Stephanie McMahon began an on-air relationship in the summer of 1999, much to Shane McMahon's dismay, which led to a Street Fight between the two, where if Test won, he was allowed to marry Stephanie, and so he did... The match that is. An amnesia plot was written in and things got a little messy.
The rumors going around about the feud for years was that Test was originally scheduled to replace Stone Cold Steve Austin in the Triple Threat main event of Survivor Series 1999 and win the WWE Championship, which would be Triple H's motivation for marrying the drugged Stephanie and promising a divorce in exchange for a WWE Championship match with Test at Armageddon the following month. For whatever reason, plans changed and Big Show won the title and Triple faced Vince McMahon at Armageddon, while Test faded into the background without ever seeking revenge.
Test would go on to have brief reigns as the WWE Hardcore, European, Tag Team, WCW Tag Team and WWE Intercontinental Champion, but would never recover from the diminished push. Sadly, Test died of an accidental overdose of oxycodone on March 13, 2009, just four days shy of what would have been his 34th birthday.
The heart of the matter
During the latest edition of his Podcast, Vince Russo spoke about the angle. Vince said that Triple H has always said that the "amnesia" angle was written because he and Ed Ferrara did not know how to end the storyline. Russo claims that he had already left WWE for WCW at this point (which is true) and thus did not know anything about this "amnesia" angle. He did, however, comment on his ending for the Test/Steph romance, adding this was always the plan from the beginning. He said:
"Ed [Ferrara] and I knew all along where we were going with the Stephanie-Test storyline. It was never in question. Our plan all along was for Test to stand her up at the altar. That was the plan, and we were going to make Test a heel. And Test was gonna have an issue with Shane, and the whole family. That's where we were going. We never wrote a story we didn't know where the thing was going."
What’s next?
We all know what happened with Triple H and Stephanie. Vince Russo continues to work for the Nashville, Tennessee-based Aro Lucha promotion as a script consultant, as well as running his "Russo Reveals" podcast.
Author’s take
I was always a big fan of Test, I found it a major shame WWE never did anything of note with him following Vince taking his place in the Triple H feud. Test had the look and skill to be a major player in WWE, but for whatever reason, it just never happened.