I want to discuss the product presented by the WWE Sunday night at SummerSlam. I would expect that creative would get a lot of the credit for the show. Only people who don’t know the truth think that WWE creative would be responsible. If you were trying to feed a child who refused to eat unless he had exactly what he wanted, what would you do? I would think most people would give the child what he wants. Now what if the child wanted Apples and Ketchup, what about a Pastrami sandwich on wheat with mayo, or mustard on a donut. I know it wouldn’t make sense to most people but that’s what the kid wants. Now if you are part of the WWE creative team by this point you know what Vince wants to eat and you feed it to him, whether it makes you sick to your stomach or not.
If Vince wanted what was best for his company he would let his wife run the company and I am very serious about that. She makes a great impression and is likeable and very professional.He would turn the booking over to Paul Heyman and I am even more serious about that. He would then put himself in a talent position. He is actually the top babyface in the company and the top heel at the same time. I would say that you could make a case for Vince having some of the best facial expressions in the business. I am not sure what Stephanie should be doing. I am sure of this its not what she is currently doing and I am open to suggestions. Any ideas???? If Shane could actually become interested in being on television as a character I find him to be quite enjoyable and he gives one hundred percent effort all the time. They seem to make this more difficult than it is. I think Vince could benefit greatly from the book Who Moved My Cheese. It was a best seller for years
How about what they did with Umaga on Monday Night Raw? Was it good booking?? Did it swerve everyone did it swerve anyone? I don’t know if it is or it isn’t, or whether it did or didn’t. If I was forced to choose I would say more erratic “all over the place I am not sure what to do with anyone type of booking”. I can say that Raw has just ended and I was caught by surprise at the attack on Cena’s father. We will see what it brings to the product. If Cena doesn’t get over as a babyface now what else is there for him. What I can say is this, that at least tonight there were two things that I didn’t see coming from a mile away. On the other hand a wrestler pulls a man out of the stands and assaults him, I was quite shocked that Jerry Lawler didn’t jump up and run to the assistance of the fan. Oh that’s right first of all Randy Orton would beat him silly and second who in the hell ever heard of a wrestler assisting a fan in a fight against another wrestler. Oh yes the Tunica County Mississippi court system has.
The WWE had an event in NYC the other day. It was a well attended event a big success. I was shocked to see how some of the TV stars wrestlers were dressed. I was really shocked they looked like bums to me. You know when George Scott made Ric Flair “The Nature Boy” he told him if you can’t be "The Nature Boy" from the time your feet hit the floor in the morning until the time you crawl back into bed let me know right now. Of course if you listen to Flair tell the story he was "The Nature Boy" in bed as well. I would say this was a man who followed direction and he did it like he was supposed to. If anyone is paying attention Flair lived his gimmick and always made an impression. Why show up to greet thousands of fans looking like every Tom, Dick, or Harry. I remember Jimmy Hart telling me during WrestleReunion 2 that when he was on tour with The Dick Clark Caravan of Stars. That Dick called a meeting with The Gentrys, The Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher and that one of the things that came out of the meeting was. If you keep dressing like the audience than perhaps you belong in the audience.
In the world of TNA is the best thing they could come up with is to book Karen Angle. By all means she is a beautiful women but they already have several beautiful women that they have no clue how to book now. Is this what is going to cause a rating increase?
It’s hard to see the long term vision of the company. In the world of business you should have a five year plan. I would be shocked to know that TNA has a two week plan. I don’t have children so I don’t know, but it is amazing what the love of a child can do. Maybe the theme song for TNA should be Daddy’s Little Girl.
When I went to Memphis Wrestling it was to work a program with The Assassins against Koko B. Ware and Corey Maclin. Well that was what it looked like to the fans but the real goal was to work a program with Jimmy Hart. I had never worked in Memphis but anytime I had managed I had gotten heat with the fans. It was good old fashioned Lou Albano type heat. I hoped that it could work for me again. I wanted to help Corey with his TV program and the few house shows that they ran. We eventually had a tag team match where Jimmy was managing those guys and I was managing The Assassins. In the end Jimmy was whipping me with a strap and we got a very good reaction to that. I know Jerry Lawler was aware of that reaction. I should have known right then and there that I was finished. I was in a position where the local and national hero Jimmy Hart was whipping me like a dog and the people loved it. We were getting the reaction that Lawler wanted to get from his matches. The following show when I walked out with The Assassins the people were screaming and wanting our blood. How long has it been since their was a heel in Memphis with real old fashioned heat?? Sure why not let your ego get in the way, Lawler what were you thinking? I can almost guarantee that more people would have shown up to watch you wrestle me, than most other people you bring in to the territory. What Memphis person wouldn’t want to see the local hero beat up the big mouth from NY. Hmm, you actually qualify for a spot on the WWE Creative team . I was still to naïve to believe that someone would want to sabotage their own company. I can tell you what Lawler get for his troubles a hot angle finished and attendance continuing to go down. I am sure Lawler said that he was a partner in the company under oath in court. I didn’t notice any tax returns or notarized documents verifying his ownership. I wonder if any of that type of stuff exists or if it is some handshake deal between Corey and Lawler. Now that is what I call a binding contract !!
I was working one day on an AWA booked show in Ct. on a show in which Jerry Lawler was wrestling Curt Henning in the main event. At the time Rob Russen was working for the Gagne’s so I helped him with the show. I had told Russen about this young kid named Mick Foley who needed a break. What could be better than to let Lawler see him and bring him to Memphis? It wasn’t long after that night that Mick had his break. Of course from there he was on his own and what a run my friend Mick Foley has had. I bring up this show in particular because one of the funnier moments I was ever involved in happened on this show. There was a loud mouth heckler in row three. In one match “The Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez was wrestling Chief Wahoo McDaniel it was a typical chop fest. It wasn’t all that long before that match spilled out onto the floor. I found myself watching two guys chop each other relentlessly. Well the heckler decided to get up and stand right next to the two men throwing chop after chop, yelling Hit Em Hit Em Hit Em, eventually I heard Wahoo tell Manny to duck. Well Manny ducked and that guy took a chop from Wahoo. I can tell you that guy ended up back in his seat in row three courtesy of Wahoo McDaniel. That guy didn’t say another word the entire night, boy oh boy those where the days.
In a final note as we prepared for WrestleReunion 1 we called Tully Blanchard and convinced him to come out of retirement to wrestle Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Title. There are many things I could talk about regarding this match and how it could have been so much more than what it was. I will only say this, Tully worked very hard to get back in ring shape for this event. He continued to work on indy shows giving 100% and having some great matches including a series of them against Dusty Rhodes which were part of some of the best drawing Indy shows of 2005. I had heard that Tully was having what is anticipated to be his last match this month. It was against Dustin Rhodes which wasn’t something that hasn’t happened before or something extra special. It was just two great workers and perhaps a fitting end to a career. A match against your arch enemy’s son is a good way to go out. I did speak to Tully recently, he indicated it all went well but that the door wasn’t closed. If something came up I could give him a call, there would be no guarantee of a yes, but I was expecting a 100% NO when we called him for WrestleReunion.
