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The Bizarre "Katie Vick" Storyline Brought WWE to Its Lowest Point Ever

The October 21, 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw is undoubtedly one of the most infamous in WWE history. A couple of weeks prior, Kane was left to defend the Tag Team Championships by himself, after Triple H attacked The Hurricane backstage. Triple H then revealed that he knew Kane's secret, and asked if the name "Katie Vick" rang a bell.

The following week on Raw, The Big Red Machine addressed who Katie Vick was. He stated that she was his friend, but he did not kill her, "it was an accident." According to Kane, he felt like there was a period of time that Katie was the only person who cared for him. One night, they went out for drinks, and Kane drove her home because she had too much to drink. He admitted that he was not familiar with a stick shift, but Katie insisted that they drove her car. During the ride, an animal ran in front of the car, and they swerved and crashed the car. Kane was injured, but unfortunately, Katie died in the car crash.

WWE's Katie Vick Funeral

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvdcZUDRMY8

Triple H interfered the promo, and stated that the whole story was not being told. He added that Kane was drinking excessively as well. He further got under Kane's skin by stating they Kane loved Katie, but Katie did not share the same feelings.

In an even weirder spin to the storyline, Triple H introduced necrophilia as a possible option, which left Kane speechless and caused him to exit the arena.

The Katie Vick storyline got even more controversial the next week, when a tape was shown of a mannequin in a casket being seduced by Triple H, who was wearing a Kane mask. Although the storylines are what make pro wrestling compelling, many are still shaking their head on what Vince McMahon was thinking to allow this to occur.

Original Plans for the Storyline

Bruce Prichard revealed on his podcast that Vince wanted a more soap opera feel to their Raw and SmackDown television shows at the time, and more backstory to their characters. WWE also released a statement the following day stating that the company was trying to make Triple H a more antagonizing character. The scene was filmed in an actual funeral home, with a wake taking place on the other side of the thin wall. The original plans were for the angle to be more comical, but Vince McMahon changed his mind for it to be more serious. Vince and Bruce were at odds regarding the direction of the angle, which led to a compromise of having both comical and series parts.

Prichard stated that he does not remember Stephanie McMahon's response to the angle, and the producers wanted to move the angle forward. Despite the funeral scene, Vince still wanted to move along with the angle, which was not well-received backstage. Prichard said that the angle continued because Vince "loved his toilet humor." The angle concluded on the October 28, 2002 edition of Raw, where Shawn Michaels superkicked Triple H at the conclusion the main event casket match against Kane.

Although Kane has become one of the most successful gimmicks in wrestling history since the character debuted in 1997, becoming a multi-time world heavyweight champion, the Katie Vick angle did nothing to help his character. If there was any silver lining the the dark cloud of Kane's career, he did defeat Triple H in the casket match to conclude the feud.

Former WWE writer David Lagana tweeted that October 2002 was the lowest the stock ever was in the company. Kane, Triple H and Shawn Michaels were all involved in the inaugural Elimination Chamber match a few weeks later at Survivor Series, which was won by Michaels. The match also included Booker T and former WWE superstars Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam.

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