Former WWE creative team member Dan Madigan has emphatically denied a long-standing rumor that he was the creator of the infamous “Katie Vick” storyline from 2002. On a recent episode of the Shut Up and Wrestle podcast, Madigan set the record straight, stating he had nothing to do with the angle and has been incorrectly associated with it for years.
The storyline, involving Triple H and Kane, is widely regarded as one of the most tasteless in WWE history. It featured a segment where Triple H, disguised as Kane, simulated necrophilia with a mannequin in a coffin. Madigan explained how he believes his name became wrongly attached to the angle. “I said the Katie Vick storyline… was the worst I’d ever seen in wrestling,” he explained. “And someone did an article or something about me once, and they saw my name, and they saw the word Katie Vick, and they put two and two together without doing the research.”
Madigan was clear in his denial. “There have been articles saying that I created that storyline, and I want to say right now emphatically, on your show, I did not create this. I am not guilty for that,” he stated. “I had nothing to do with the Katie Vick storyline. I just publicly said I was against it.”
He recalled watching the angle unfold on television before he was officially hired by WWE and being shocked by what he saw. “I’m saying myself this, they’re not going to go this… He’s not going to crawl the coffin with her,” he remembered thinking. “It was just bad… with the exception of a child snuff film, you could write anything for these guys, apparently.”
The Katie Vick angle remains a prominent example of the creative excesses of WWE’s “Ruthless Aggression” era. Podcast host Brian Solomon noted that the storyline was a turning point for him personally, stating it was “the point where I stopped watching the product outside of working hours.” The angle is still frequently cited by fans and critics as a low point in the company’s creative history.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Shut Up and Wrestle with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
