WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is the one who takes the final call of the storylines which would be featured on TV. The infamous ‘higher power’ storyline from WWE’s Attitude Era was briefly discussed on the latest Legion of RAW episode, where former WWE and WCW writer Vince Russo spoke about WWE’s original candidate for the role.
Vince Russo reveals Vince McMahon turned down the idea
Fans are already aware of the fact that former AEW star Christopher Daniels was slated to be introduced as the higher power of The Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness faction. Vince Russo revealed that he pitched the idea to WWE as Daniels was one of the hottest talents on the independent circuit at the time. However, Vince McMahon wasn’t familiar with the ‘Fallen Angel’ back then and immediately shot down the plan when he saw him for the first time at a WWE taping.
Here’s what Vince Russo recalled about McMahon’s reaction to Christopher Daniels:
“No, bro, it was supposed to be Christopher Daniels. What happened was, Chris Daniels was very, very hot on the independent scene back then, and you know, he was the Fallen Angel. I pitched the idea that it be Chris Daniels. And bro, what happened was Vince had no idea who Chris Daniels was. So, Chris Daniels shows up at TV to do this, and Vince goes to me, ‘Who is that?’ I’m like, ‘Vince, that’s Chris Daniels.’ Vince took one look at him and said, ‘That’s not the hype. We’re not doing that.’ That’s when, at the last minute, ‘It was me all along.’ It was supposed to be the Fallen Angel.”
Vince Russo further added that he wanted to build upon Christopher Daniels’ ‘Fallen Angel’ persona and push him as an evil on-screen character in WWE. While Daniels had the skill set to be the ‘higher power,’ Russo believed the superstar’s size forced McMahon to change the creative direction:
“We didn’t have a long-term plan,” Russo continued, “but you know, we were really going to develop him like an Aleister Black. You know, a Fallen Angel, really evil, and we were really going to develop that character. And again, nothing against Chris. Me and Chris kind of have a checkered past. Nothing against Chris. It was a size thing. You know Vince could not get past the fact that he was small.”
