10 Absolutely Incredible WWE Backstage Vince McMahon Stories
5. How To Get Hired
Todd Pettengill was an affable presence in the New Generation - a complete geek, but just likeable and sincere enough to pass the muster. Like if Michael Cole had a marginally cooler older brother.
He almost didn't get hired. Todd, as recounted in an interview with Gorilla Position in 2015, first met with Linda, who was sufficiently impressed enough to schedule a meeting with Vince who at said meeting threw Pettengill a bottle of water and simply said: "Sell it to me." Pettengill's pitch was apparently a hit, even if his survival advice was particularly poor. "If you're in the desert, you can pour it on your feet"? Surely you'd be better off drinking it mate. In any event, McMahon was sold. Pettengill had secured the gig.
All that talk of water compelled him to use the facilities, at which he encountered a rank odour. The unknown man in the stall, as Pettengill euphemistically confirmed, had "put in a lot of work". "How about a courtesy flush?" he asked politely. McMahon emerged from the cubicle and, having just indulged in what he think is the absolute funniest thing ever - taking a sh*t - was in great spirits.
"That's hysterical! Now I gotta hire you!" he said.