Former WWE Star Ken Doane On Vince McMahon Pitching The Spirit Squad Gimmick
Former WWE Star Ken Doane spoke to ESPN on training at an early age, Spirit Squad, and working with DX. Here are some of the highlights:
Vince McMahon pitching the Spirit Squad idea:
"[McMahon] turned and said, 'Guys, this is my idea. It's gonna work because I'm telling you it will work. He said, 'I want cheerleaders. Male cheerleaders. There's nothing that gets more heat than male cheerleaders.' I kinda looked at the other guys out of the corner of my eye like, 'Is this a joke? This is a good joke. You guys went all the way out to get Vince in on this?'"
Working with DX:
"It was amazing. I remember we would always joke around when we first started working [with DX], 'I wanna take the superkick — let me take the superkick.' Secretly we're all fans. Of course we're going to be fans of Shawn Michaels and Triple H, so we'd trade off. It was fun. Just learning so much in there — how to slow down, how to tell a story, and also, too, what I learned a lot from Shawn and Hunter was how to work a main event."
Getting trained by Killer Kowalski at around 13 years old:
"When I got there, Kowalski said, 'Come back in five years when you're 18, kid. Get out of here. And I was like, 'Mr. Kowalski, you don't understand, if you teach me now, when I'm 18, I'll have five years of experience and then WWE might be interested.' I remember he just looked at me like, 'That's an interesting thought.'"
Doane also discussed his most recent run with WWE. You can check out the full interview by clicking here.