Vince McMahon’s Stress Got This Talent a WWE Job

Vince McMahon’s ‘Stress’ Landed a Talent a WWE Job.

Jason Sensation did not get into WWE through tryouts, wrestling school, or athletic ability.

He got in because Vince McMahon was under so much pressure during a live television interview that a single impression became comic relief.

Speaking on the “Insight” podcast, Sensation explained how it happened.

He said Carl De Marco called him and told him to get down to CTV.

De Marco said he would try to introduce Sensation to McMahon.

The date was right after the Montreal Screwjob, the infamous 1997 incident where McMahon screwed Bret Hart out of the WWE Championship in his final match before leaving for WCW.

McMahon was being interviewed by Michael Landsberg on the Canadian sports show “Off the Record.”

Landsberg grilled McMahon about the Screwjob.

According to Sensation, Landsberg got McMahon to admit he lied during that interview.

“He grilled him and grilled him,” Sensation said.

But the show was taping two episodes, and there was a break between them.

That break was Sensation’s window.

“It was perfect timing because Vince was under such stress in that interview that it was comic relief now,” Sensation said.

Triple H was also backstage filming a segment that day.

Triple H put Sensation over to McMahon.

Carl De Marco put Sensation over to McMahon.

Then they introduced him to the boss.

McMahon’s reaction was immediate.

“Oh my God, I’ve never heard an Owen Hart impression, come on,” McMahon said, according to Sensation.

Sensation launched into his Owen Hart impression.

“Woo! I’m not a Nugget Slammy Award winner!” he said, or whatever he was saying at the time.

McMahon said, “That’s great.”

Then De Marco told Sensation to do Shawn Michaels.

Sensation did his Shawn Michaels impression.

“I’m The Heartbreak Kid,” he said.

McMahon’s response was a sentence that changed Sensation’s life.

“Nobody can do Shawn Michaels,” McMahon said.

“We’ve got to get you on air, kid.”

McMahon kept his word.

Sensation did a bunch of impressions for him.

But he felt like he wanted to talk to McMahon and did not really get a chance during the break.

When the second segment ended, McMahon headed straight for his limousine.

Sensation ran out to the limo.

He yelled, “Vince, I’m on file with WWE. Please don’t forget me!”

McMahon turned and said, “I would find that very difficult, Jason.”

McMahon kept his word again.

Not long after that meeting, Carl De Marco called Sensation.

“Here’s the phone call you’ve been waiting for your whole life,” De Marco said.

Sensation was going to WrestleMania.

The booking was a DX public workout.

It was a one-day gig.

WWE would fly him in, pay him $500, and he would do impressions with D-Generation X.

De Marco told him to stay by the phone because Vince Russo, the head writer, would call.

“It was like, wow, this is really happening,” Sensation said.

“It was my lifelong dream, just like all of us, to be a part of wrestling.”

He did not know his way in because he was not athletic.

He had not made the connection between his impressions and a wrestling career until that moment.

When he was very young, he started doing impressions.

But that day, under the stress of the Montreal Screwjob fallout, McMahon needed a laugh.

Sensation provided it.

And that is how a non-wrestler with a gift for voices got a WWE role.

For context, the Montreal Screwjob remains one of the most controversial moments in wrestling history.

It happened on November 9, 1997, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in Montreal, Quebec.

Bret Hart was leaving WWE for WCW.

McMahon did not trust Hart to leave with the championship.

So McMahon conspired with referee Earl Hebner to ring the bell while Hart was in Shawn Michaels’ submission hold, even though Hart had not submitted.

Michaels was declared the winner and champion.

Hart was furious.

The moment changed the wrestling business forever.

McMahon turned his on-screen character from a commentator into the evil “Mr. McMahon” boss.

That storyline fueled WWE’s rise during the Attitude Era.

But in the immediate aftermath, McMahon was under enormous public scrutiny.

Landsberg’s interview was part of that scrutiny.

And in that high-pressure moment, a young impressionist walked in and changed his life.