10 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Big Boss Man
4. Vince Russo’s Reaction To The Hanging
The producers just blew Russo's mind though.
It was Vince himself who concocted the story that’d see Boss Man hanged by Undertaker at WrestleMania XV. He thought it'd fly because it was something fans had never seen before, but it caused so much strife for Ray's family away from the ring. Lacy had to fend off comments from others at school, and she had to ask: "Honestly, was this necessary?".
The answer is no, of course, but the WWF wanted to shock people in 1999. VICE’s interviewers told Russo that this was one of the first times Ray’s family had come to see him wrestle. Responding, Russo said: “Oh my God. Now that I did not know. That’s horrific!”. He legitimately didn't know that was the case.
Would it have changed his approach? Probably not, and it's a shame the filmmakers didn't ask him that. It would've put Russo right on the spot and perhaps made for one of the most insightful moments in the entire documentary. Someone needs to take Vince to task for this on a podcast somewhere, and find out if he has any regrets or if he'd do the same thing all over again.
Again, VICE deftly sidestepped having Cornette cut the promo of a lifetime on Russo for this, but the traditionalist clearly wasn't into some of the soap opera-style 'crash TV' elements of the time. Corny did, however, put WWE on blast for green-lighting the whole Pepper/Al Snow's dog saga later in the year.
'Kennel From Hell', and all that.