Vince McMahon Banned WWE Superstar From Using Shooting Star Press

Those who watched SmackDown in the mid 2000’s remember the name Paul London. He teamed with the likes of Billy Kidman and Brian Kendrick, in which both times he won tag team gold. London eventually was released from his contract back in November of 2008. Despite his established move set, Vince McMahon still didn’t want London doing every move in his arsenal.

While speaking on Rene Dupree’s Cafe de Rene Podcast, London spoke about hitting the Shooting Star Press during match against Nunzio on Velocity. While many in the locker room praised London for pulling off such an incredible maneuver, Vince McMahon wasn’t too please with it.

Vince was like, ‘If you start doing that move, other guys are gonna wanna start doing it, and Rey [Mysterio] is gonna start doing it.’ I was like, ‘Rey’s not gonna do that! Nobody’s gonna do that move. It’s my finisher.’ ‘Oh, so you want us to make an exception for you?’ Jesus Christ, it’s like I’m talking to a goddam mannequin.

It was later revealed that wrestling legend Dean Malenko helped produce London’s match against Nunzio. Malenko tried to convince McMahon to reverse the Shooting Star Press ban, but McMahon didn’t budge.

We walk in and, I kid you not, in under a minute, we go in, he looks at Vince, he’s like, ‘Excuse me, sir, what is this you don’t want him [doing]? No more top-rope moves?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, no more off the top,’ and Dean just goes, ‘Okay,’ and just walks out. The tail was not only between his legs, it was up his ass.

London would go on to wrestle in various promotions following his WWE release. In 2019, London made his return in Impact Wrestling and is now currently working backstage as an producer. It’s not known whether McMahon will ever re-instate the Shooting Press move, but we can only hope that he lifts that ban.

What do you think of the banning of the Shooting Star Press by the chairman himself? Sound of in the comments section below.