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Luke Gallows says Vince McMahon yelled at him, “No like that, goddamn it – like this!” as he showed him he wanted him to portray the Festus character when McMahon first pitched it to him. In an interview with PWMania, Gallows described the meeting and how he felt about the character. He also said he had to adjust his wrestling style to fit the character. The following are key excerpts provided to PWTorch by PWMania.
On Vince McMahon pitching the Festus character:
“We [Good brothers] were supposed to debut as Jesse and Justice Dalton, pig farmers in overalls. Then, right before our first TV match, they pulled us aside: ‘Vince wants to see you.’
So we go into Vince’s office, and he explains this Festus character to me—saying he knew someone catatonic as a kid, which I’m pretty sure was bullshit. (laughs) But he starts doing the Festus face at me, tongue out and all, and makes me do it back. ‘Not like that, goddamn it—like this!’ Here I am, 23 years old, never spoken to Vince before, and suddenly we’re sticking our tongues out at each other. Totally surreal.”
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On Vince’s reaction after Festus debuted on TV:
“I was fishing for feedback, and all I was told was: ‘He loves Festus. Just… be weird.’ (laughs) That was the guidance.”
On how Festus came to life:
“A couple days later, they called me and said, ‘You need to practice—don’t wrestle like a wrestler anymore.’ So instead of headlocks and holds, they had me do big bear-paw punches, slaps, weird offense like the nuts-to-the-face spot. They wanted Festus to look like he didn’t know how to wrestle.”
On never being embarrassed by Festus:
“I’ve never been embarrassed by it. Of course, every wrestler dreams about being Ric Flair with the robe and the long blonde hair, but being a character like Festus was a lot of fun. It literally bought me my first house.”
Gallows also opened up about working with C.M. Punk in the Straight Edge Society, his time with A.J. Styles and Karl Anderson in The Club, and his current ventures outside WWE. You can check out the complete interview at this link.
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