That Time Christopher Daniels Was Nearly The Higher Power

By this point, the company was raking in oodles of cash, crushing their helpless competition over in WCW and looking forward to a new millennium that'd be led by Austin, The Rock, Triple H, 'Taker, Mick Foley, Big Show and an embarrassment of other riches.

'Mania XV, headlined by Stone Cold vs. The Rock, was another success that generated millions for company coffers and had fans relishing the sight of another Austin triumph on the biggest show of the year. After that, everything seemed fine; if anyone had any internal worries about what would become known as the regular post-WrestleMania slump in ratings, they didn't show.

The WWF was going from strength to strength, had a tireless thirst to produce more content and was aided by the creativity of head writer Vince Russo. He, despite receiving often-unrivalled amounts of criticism in the years since, was on fire during the Attitude days, and he was directly responsible for dragging his employer from (possibly) downsizing in 1995 to untold wealth.

It was Russo's brand of car-crash television storytelling, week-to-week cliffhangers and over-the-top characterisation that helped turn the WWF into a hot ticket again. He was someone McMahon could trust to give everyone on the roster purpose, identify the strengths of his locker room and pen stories that'd keep folks coming back so his bank balance could swell beyond his wildest dreams.

Only, McMahon didn't trust Russo 100% of the time. In fact, the legend is that he acted as editor to some of his best ideas and flat out turned down some of his most outlandish.

This, this is where an indy darling enters the frame.

CONT'D...