Stephanie McMahon Encouraged WWE Superstar To Go All Out With Weird Character

You never know which character will resonate with pro wrestling fans. Luke Gallows has portrayed a few interesting characters during his WWE career, but one character that Stephanie McMahon was eager to see never made it to the spotlight. Still, she wanted to explore how far Gallows could push his craziness.

In 2005, Luke Gallows signed with WWE and began training at Deep South Wrestling. Early on, Gallows developed the “Freakin’ Deacon” gimmick, featuring a pet spider that he spoke to as part of a split personality character.

While discussing his character development on Talk’n Shop, Luke Gallows explained how he conceived the schizophrenic character WWE was looking for. Stephanie McMahon encouraged him to fully embrace his freak side.

“I thought, ‘I have a fertile mind. Let me create a character where they have to look at me.’ I started doing all this weird stuff. I was spiking my balding hair out because John Laurinaitis told me I had to grow hair since there were too many bald guys. I’m 20, looking 50. I have a skullet going like Damien Demento. I thought, ‘I want to take it a step further.’ There had already been a guy with a snake. There was already a snake in wrestling. What is the next thing that people are disgusted and put off by? A spider. I hate spiders. Most people do. I talked to, God rest his soul, the Original Assassin Jody Hamilton. ‘What do you think about this?’ ‘Go down to the damn pet store and get one. Let’s see what we can do with it.’ I went and bought a tarantula, pulled it out of the cage, and it bit me out of the gate. ‘What am I going to do with this?’”

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“I started messing with it, and I came up with this gimmick where I had a split personality. I was this bruising mean wrestler, but the spider would talk to me because I’m schizophrenic, and when the spider would talk to me, it would come through me, and the voice would be high-pitched, and I’d go into this weird promo, then I would slap myself in the face, ‘You will feel the wrath and fury of the Freakin Deacon.’ It was super weird, super Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango magic crazy stuff. The promos were weird, but it made everybody interested. A month after I started to do the promos, Stephanie McMahon saw me. She said, ‘You are really really weird.’ I went, ‘Ahhh.’ She goes, ‘Be as weird as you can be.’”

After his WWE release, Luke Gallows had an interesting journey with a couple of insane Talk ‘N Shop A Mania pay-per-view specials. This path led him to TNA Wrestling and eventually back to WWE, where he continues to enjoy his Good Brothers tag team with Karl Anderson. They have also made appearances in NXT to extend their partnership within the black and gold brand.

We will have to see what Luke Gallows does next. He’s a veteran of the pro wrestling business now, and he’s earned everything he has. Only time will tell what his character does in the future, but he’s likely going to be having a lot of fun in the process.

What’s your take on Luke Gallows’ character evolution? Do you miss the Talk ‘N Shop A Mania pay-per-view specials? Let us know what you think in the comments section!