During his time as the creative mind behind WWE Vince McMahon was never afraid to push the boundaries of what might be possible in a wrestling ring. Whether that was through match stipulations or the characters competing in the ring, it often seemed that the crazier the idea, the better.
However, sometimes McMahon wanted to push logic and even the human body just a little bit too far, especially if this particular story from Chris Jericho is anything to go by.
Vince McMahon Pitched Bizarre Spider-Man Themed Hell In A Cell Spot
At Vengeance in 2001 Chris Jericho defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock to become the Undisputed Champion. This meant that when Triple H made his return from a torn quad in January 2002, he immediately set his sights on a showdown with Jericho. Throw in some Stephanie McMahon related shenanigans and the rivalry was set. Although Triple H beat Jericho at WrestleMania X8, the feud continued all the way until Judgment Day where the pair met inside Hell In A Cell.
Speaking during an Inside The Ropes live event via Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho discussed Hell In A Cell matches in general, and the creative process behind his meeting with Triple H in particular. This led to Vince McMahon suggesting that the pair shoot webs onto the roof of the structure to get up there for the finish of the match. This surreal plan stemmed from the former Chairman watching Spider-Man the night before.
“So then they come up with the idea to do Hell in a Cell. And you know, it’s just basically an attraction, and it’s kind of a blow off. And you know, it’s fine. But the thing I really am proud of for that Hell in a Cell is this the first one that didn’t feature a crazy bump off the top of the cage. That was kind of a hell in the cell standard between Mick, and Shawn took the first one at the side, and this guy’s falling and Rikishi has fallen off into the back of the truck and all these other things.
So we said, let’s make this match a bridge to where people don’t expect to have someone fall off every time. Because sooner or later, you can’t do that all the time, you know? So then we thought well why don’t we do the finish on top of the cage?
Hmm, that’s interesting and hadn’t been done at that point in time, right. And I remember when I pitched the idea, we pitched the idea to Vince, he’s like ‘Well, the idea of Hell in a Cell is nobody can get out of the door. How are you going to get up there?’
And then think, well, maybe we can crawl up the inside? Vince said ‘Well, there’s not a hole in the top of the cage and how you going to crawl across?’ And the Vince goes ‘Why don’t you take your arms and shoot some web to the top of the cage and slide up there?’ Like what? Triple H goes ‘He went and saw Spider-Man last night.’
Can you imagine Vince McMahon at the movies? Imagine you’re at the movies and you see Vince sitting there. I remember once I asked him if he wanted to go to AC/DC with me at the garden. And he’s like [undecided] and I’m like, what if he says yes? He’s going to show up in a suit. What Is he going to do? He couldn’t make it thankfully. Anyway, so we couldn’t use a spider’s webs because we’re not mutants.”
As planned the match between Jericho and Triple H did end on the top of the cell after the pair brawled with a 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire. Triple H was the man who scored the win after hitting Y2J with the Pedigree.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Talk Is Jericho and link back to this article with a H/T to Inside The Ropes.