One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY Month Of The WWE Attitude Era

13. April 2000 | Guess Why These Guys Nearly Tagged

Val Venis Bio
WWE

Scott Vick spent almost as much time in developmental as Shawn Spears. 

Older readers will recall seeing his name mentioned in the sheets and on the sites constantly. There was often talk about bringing him in. He was constantly just weeks away from appearing in a series of vignettes ahead of some huge debut. This was a weird phenomenon. The reality is that Vick wasn’t an amazing wrestler, and the WWF didn’t rate him all that highly - but because his apparent debut had been delayed so often, some people thought he was so can’t-miss that they were just waiting for the ideal time. Raven’s Flock being such a cool stable had a lot to do with this. 

The ‘Scott Vick is coming, motherf*cker’ craze began anew when, in the April 17 Observer, Dave Meltzer reported that the WWF wanted to pair Vick with Val Venis and push them as a tag team. What follows is total inference, but here’s what might have happened. 

By early 2000, the WWF was under intense pressure to tone the product down. You’ll still find many examples of lewd and vile material, but changes were in fact made; the show was tame compared to 1998. The likes of X-Pac were asked to re-cut promos at SmackDown tapings if the original interview was deemed too graphic. Val Venis wasn’t the same, which explains why he joined Right To Censor in the summer - but did he almost get Vick as a partner because he could use that particular surname as a double entendre in his promos? And because both guys had surnames beginning with V that rhymed with words for male genitalia?

Dumber things had happened in the Attitude Era.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!