Former WWE star Steve Blackman recently joined Insight with Chris Van Vliet to discuss one of the most memorable moments of his career — his Hardcore Championship match with Shane McMahon at SummerSlam 2000, which featured Shane’s iconic fall from the titantron. Blackman offered candid insights into the planning, the risks involved, and what really happened behind the scenes.
Blackman recalled the surreal moment when they planned Shane’s 40-foot fall and the conditions that made the stunt even more dangerous than fans realized.
“There was nothing on the floor from the TitanTron until you’re seven or eight feet away. Then there was a mat the size of a bed way out there. I’m like, he’s going to land on that backwards from up there? What if he falls straight down?” Blackman recalled. “This one guy goes, ‘If he just steps back and falls this way, he’ll land out there.’ I said, well that’s insane to me.”
Blackman revealed that the decision to go through with the spot was Shane’s own idea, not something imposed by Vince McMahon or WWE management.
“Well, it had to be him. I don’t think it was his dad. It had to be Shane,” Blackman said. “I’ll never forget, Vince is like, ‘You need to get that stick out of the way. If you crack him and your stick’s here, and he drops, he’s going to fall differently.’”
After Shane took the fall, Blackman had to follow it up with an elbow drop from nearly 25 feet up — a moment that was both dangerous and nearly overshadowed.
“I’m supposed to drop an elbow on him, and I’m like, I have two feet to land there,” he said. “Overnight, someone encased the mat with three-quarter-inch plywood around it. So if you have a limb sticking out, it’s just going to snap off.”
Despite the limited space, Blackman successfully hit the elbow without injuring Shane — a feat he’s still proud of, even if Shane’s fall stole the spotlight.
“Even at that 25 feet I was at, that’s still hard to land right in that spot… But yes, he overshadowed it with the way he dropped. But I thought the match was pretty good.”
Hardcore Punishment: “That Metal Thing Just Went Peeling Down My Face”
Blackman also described the chaotic nature of WWE’s hardcore division, where props were often real and brutal.
“Our runners would grab props anywhere, and sometimes they were real street signs… He hit me with a street sign one time. If you watch that match, it felt like it ripped the nose off my face. That metal thing just went peeling right down my face. I thought, Holy hell.”
Despite the pain and chaos, Blackman considers the SummerSlam match a highlight of his career, noting the hard-hitting physicality and crowd reaction.
