Paul Diamond Reveals How He Became WWF’s Max Moon, Says Konnan Was Supposed To Be ‘Komet Kid’ Instead

Konnan might have been the man in mind for the costume, but he was originally meant to be the “Komet Kid” instead of the Max Moon character fans saw for a brief run on WWF TV.

Despite not lasting very long in the promotion, Max Moon is still remembered as one of WWE’s most infamous gimmicks. Some fans might be under the impression that Konnan played the character the whole time, but the man under the mask for most of it was Paul Diamond.

Debuting on September 21, 1992, Diamond (who was known prior to this for his work in Badd Company and the Orient Express) played the Max Moon role for a few more months until the gimmick was axed. In a recent interview with WrestleZone, Diamond explained how he ended up in the role despite it being originally pitched for (and created by) Konnan.

In the past, Konnan has said he created the gimmick after seeing it in Japan, and later pitched the idea to Vince McMahon. He ultimately no-showed a few television tapings and essentially “got himself fired”, which led to Diamond stepping into the role. Diamond says Konnan might come up with the concept, but he was supposed to play the character under a different name.

“Obviously, everybody [is] like, ‘Oh, we thought Konnan was Max Moon.’ That actually, realistically, Konnan was never Max Moon,” Diamond revealed. “They were gonna call him ‘Comet Kid.’”

Diamond went on to explain that he doesn’t know everything that happened between Konnan and WWE, but recalled how he ended up playing the character himself.

“At this particular TV taping, he never showed up at the event. And WWF has—there’s three sisters that sort of do all the costumes for the guys—I was talking to them and saying, ‘Wow, you guys made this costume really fast and now, there’s nobody to wear it,” Diamond said. “And if you make a few small alterations, I bet I could fit into it.’”

“And Vince’s office, we were at TV tapings, was just across the way. He stuck his head out the door of his office and he goes, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘Oh I was just telling the girls, you know, make a few small changes, I could probably fit into that costume.’ And that point, it wasn’t Max Moon, it was ‘Comet Kid.’ But so he went, ‘Oh yeah, okay.’ And we kept on talking and maybe a half hour later, the door opens to his office again,” Diamond explained, “and he pointed at me. ‘You, come here.’ He had me come into his office. He goes, ‘You know what you were talking about? He said, okay, you got it, it’s yours. Do what you want with it.’”

Diamond says he was in the right place at the right time for the character, and went on to explain how he got fitted for the final version of the suit. He made his debut in the costume as Komet Kid in a match against Barry Horowitz, but says he showed up to the next taping and learned the name had been changed without explanation.

“I made my debut at Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the next time I showed up at TV tapings, they had—I think it was Arnold Skaaland—and he would hand out all the airplane tickets. And [he goes] ‘Max Moon.’ ‘Who the heck is that?’ Nobody even told me they were changing the name, and that’s kind of how I found out that I was Max Moon.”

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