Jim Ross Called Infamous WWE Storyline About Katie Vick An 'Embarrassment To Wrestling'
When it comes to pro wrestling, not every segment is going to be a home run. But one infamous WWE storyline still haunts those involved with it to this day.
In the lead-up to its No Mercy pay-per-view event in October 2002, the promotion began a feud between future WWE Hall of Famers Kane and Triple H that went to some questionable places. In the storyline, it was revealed that Kane had an ex-girlfriend in his youth named Katie Vick, who died in a car accident. Mocking his rival at one point during the program, Triple H shared a video of him dressed up as Kane mimicking inappropriate behavior with a mannequin, which was supposed to be Vick's dead body inside of a casket.
"I was so shocked," former longtime WWE announcer Jim Ross said during his "Grilling JR" podcast. "And I knew the subject matter was going to be very, very delicate, to say the very least. But I didn't know all the specifics, and all the machinations of how they're going to produce that segment. It was just horrible, just horrible."
Ross said he felt "bad for the audience," especially parents who had to explain the segment to their kids. "I never saw any value in it," he added. "It was embarrassing to wrestling."
What Has Triple H Said About the Katie Vick Segment?
Years later, Triple H finally opened up about the infamous WWE segment during an interview with "The Opie and Anthony Show" in 2008.
Triple H, aka WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, revealed during the interview that they filmed the segment at a real funeral home that had a funeral in progress in the room next door. That made things awkward for Levesque as former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon — his real life father-in-law — continued to badger him to moan louder as he was mimicking an act of necrophilia with the mannequin. At one point, Levesque recalled, the funeral director poked his head into the room to tell them to be quiet.
Levesque added that he thought the segment was "insane," and now regards it as "one of the most infamous storylines in our business." To the day, the former champion said he still had people telling him it was "mortifying on so many levels." Levesque admitted in the interview, "When we left there, I was like, 'I can't believe I just did that.'"