Raven Says WrestleMania 17 Nearly Went Dark After Backstage Golf Cart Incident Went Wrong

Raven is no stranger to chaos, but one moment during WrestleMania X-Seven nearly caused a real-life disaster that could have shut down WWE’s biggest show of the year.

While reflecting on his career during a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Raven revisited the Hardcore Championship Triple Threat Match that also involved Big Show and Kane. The bout is remembered for its wild backstage brawl and golf cart chase through the Astrodome, but Raven revealed just how close that segment came to derailing the entire event.

He explained that the original plan called for a full lap around the stadium, something he was especially excited about. That plan unraveled quickly once the action escalated faster than expected.

“I’m driving the golf cart and Show’s choking me. I didn’t expect Show to be choking me, so I wanted to swerve a bunch because I didn’t want to just drive straight. We were supposed to drive all the way around the Astrodome — make a full 360-degree drive. That was my favorite spot of the match, and I totally ruined it.”

Raven said the trouble started when he tried to improvise around a chain-link fence, assuming the cart would bounce back onto the path. Instead, the wheel dropped off the edge, leaving the vehicle completely stuck.

“There was a fence — a chain-link fence — that was from ceiling to ground. And the sidewalk dropped off on the other side of the chain. So I went to bounce off the chain with the cart, figuring I’d bounce off and swerve back on, and the wheel just went off the edge and just died right there. The golf cart wouldn’t move.”

With the cart disabled and the moment falling apart, Raven tried to salvage the spectacle by pushing for the next planned beat, but Big Show shut it down. That forced Raven into an even riskier decision.

“I tried to get it back on, and Show’s going, ‘No, leave it!’ And I’m like, ‘I want to — Kane’s going to chase us in the other golf cart. It’s going to be so cool!’ And he’s like, ‘No!’ So I just ran out into traffic and got run over by Kane.”

The real shock came after the show was over. According to Raven, a member of the production crew pulled him aside and explained just how close the mistake came to becoming a catastrophe.

“After the show, one of the production guys grabbed me and said, ‘You know you came within millimeters of cutting off the power to the entire show?’ He goes, ‘You landed right on the wire that runs the power to the show. If you’d cut through it, you would’ve killed power to the entire event.’”

Only then did the full weight of the moment sink in, as Raven realized the consequences could have ended his WWE run on the spot.

“That would’ve got me so much heat. I’d have definitely been fired for that.”

WrestleMania X-Seven is still widely viewed as one of WWE’s greatest shows, but Raven’s story adds a behind-the-scenes reminder of just how thin the line can be between unforgettable spectacle and total disaster when chaos is part of the plan.

What do you think about Raven’s WrestleMania 17 near-miss—does knowing how close the show came to going dark change how you remember that match? Drop your thoughts and reactions in the comments.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.