Being a wrestling fan myself, I know how eager all of you fans are to get a look behind the scenes of "sports entertainment." I know how you scour the internet for hours at a time, searching for the latest news or rumors that will give you some insight as to what goes on backstage at RAW or SMACKDOWN! Well, if you'd like to hear a real story about backstage politics, do I have some juicy gossip for you. I called it gossip, but it's fact, 100% true. I know, because I saw it all first hand, I was responsible for it all.! Friends, this is the story of how little Stephy McMahon--the bosses daughter--became a mainstay on WWF television.
I guess now would be a good time for me to introduce myself. My name is Ricky Lee, and I'm one of the WWF's head writers--have been for years, in a round about way. See, everyone credits Vince Russo as being the creative mind that put the WWF on top again in the latter half of the 1990s. Well, he played his part, sure, but what you never hear about is the team of writers that helped him. We all worked together on the storylines, and Russo usually took the credit. That didn't really bother me, though. I knew they were my ideas even when no one else did, and when I heard the crowd reacting to one of my angles, or saw the ratings come in on Tuesday, that was my payment.
So, anyway, it was around November of 1998. With Survivor Series a couple of weeks away, all of the writers sat down for one of our long-term planning sessions to map out the direction of the storylines for the rest of the year and first part of next year. The biggest part of our work was already done for us, because we had our champion etched in stone. Cold Stone, I guess you could say. The Rock was set to take the WWF title at Survivor Series, but that was only to set of the Wrestlemania main event, where he would drop the belt to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Austin was the biggest name the sport had ever seen, and putting the belt back on him was a no brainer. Based on the reactions he had begun to get from the crowd, it was also a no brainer that The Rock would be turning face soon after the biggest Pay Per View of the year. That left us to come up with a major heel to challenge Austin for his title. The only real candidate was the Undertaker, who had just completed a heel turn and was a recognizable and legitimate contender.
I've always thought the best wrestling angles were the ones that blurred the edges between fantasy and reality, so I posed the question "What if the Undertaker started to actually believe in his character?" What if he bought into the occult elements of the gimmic, formed a cult, and started terrorizing the WWF? To add to the drama, Vince McMahon, owner of the WWF and on-screen enemy of Stone Cold, would have to ask his arch-nemesis for help in controlling the 'Taker. Again, no-brainer drama. Russo loved the idea, but we needed a catalyst, something to set off the feud between UT and Vince. We all racked our brains but couldn't come up with an answer, and ended up adjorning the meeting to ponder it over on our own.
Flash-forward to later in the week at a taping of RAW IS WAR. I was milling around backstage, talking to the wrestlers, going over the angles for the night
"Hey, Ricky," I heard the sweet voice of Stephanie McMahon behind me and turned to see her jogging toward me. Stephy was a bit of odd sight backstage. With all of the scantaly clad women running around in the WWF, Steph--definately the girl-next-door type in both dress and attitude--stuck out among all the Tand A. But, make no mistake: she was the girl-next-door-you-wanna-fuck-all-night-long type. Beautiful and sweet and smart and her innocence made her that much more desirable.
"I've been looking for you," she said, smiling her big warm smile.
"Hey, Steph," I replied. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, see, I guess you know I've been trying to convince Daddy to put me on TV for a while now. I've talked to Vince Russo, but he doesn't seem very enthusiastic about it."
Stephy had indeed been trying to get on TV for a while. As the bosses daughter, she was guaranteed a job in the front office (which she did well), but she was a McMahon through and through and wanted to have her time in the spotlight just like her father and brother Shane. Russo wasn't at all oppossed to putting women in storylines--loved it, actually--but with Stephy's wholesome look and total lack of in-ring training, Russo had always dismissed her. To be honest, I had too. She just didn't look like a "wrestling babe."