Vince McMahon Doesn’t Remember That Luke Gallows Wrestled For WWE As Festus

Luke Gallows has had quite the impact in WWE this year as one-third of The Club. But as many of you know, this isn’t his first run with the company.

Gallows previously appeared in WWE as a member of The Straight Edge Society, serving as CM Punk’s heavy on the SmackDown brand for much of 2010. But before that, Gallows had the slightly less dignified gimmick of Festus, a country bumpkin character who transformed into a hoss at the sound of a ring bell.

Festus had a two-year run in WWE, and his character was created by Vince McMahon himself. But according to Gallows’ tag team partner Karl Anderson, McMahon has no recollection of the big man ever playing Festus. Festus appeared on weekly WWE programming from spring 2007 until spring 2009, and The Chairman doesn’t not remember it all all.

The duo revealed this bit of info during an appearance last week on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast:

Anderson: The best part of the Festus character is that we heard from Talent Relations, or the Head of Talent Relations is that Vince doesn’t even remember that he was Festus.

Gallows: I don’t know if we’re even allowed to say the word, but my wife didn’t even know that I was Festus when I married her, which is real.

Anderson: We go up to the Gorilla Position, and Mark Carano would say, I’m going to go tell Vince and remind him that you were Festus. I would say, don’t tell Vince, I need this run right now.

While this may seem odd, McMahon comes off as someone who is in-the-moment and focused on what’s next that he probably would have little recollection of a mid-card character from nearly a decade ago.