Though I can not be 100% sure about this, but I do believe as a referee I hold a certain distinction. It is one of those memorable matches that I think about from time to time. I am the only referee to ever work with two individuals in the only three times they wrestled each other. In one of my trips to Puerto Rico they had booked the same match two nights in a row. It was the number one heel on the island Abdullah the Butcher vs. Tiny Lister better known to wrestling fans as Zeus. The office wanted to take advantage of the huge publicity Zeus had gotten from working with Hulk Hogan in the then WWF. Here is one of the matches from Youtube.
The commentator is Hugo Savinovich. It was quite an interesting experience; in Abdullah you had the seasoned veteran with his wild man style. In Zeus you had an actor turned wrestler with a great body but very little training. Zeus was by far was not a "natural". He did have the desire to do well and that always helps. It was up to Abdullah to carry this match. I assisted as best I could. A few things stand out in my mind about the two matches. The first match was very up and down. The people were screaming at the top of their lungs at times and at others you could hear a pin drop. I recall Zeus attempting to be vicious and as I was trying to get in between them Zeus shoved me pretty hard. I looked at him and said Zeus don’t shove me like that. He looked over and said I’m sorry. In those days he was bordering on a DQ. At that point I knew he was really trying to make it work. When the very limited skills of Zeus became apparent the people were quiet ... so quiet that I couldn’t imagine saving the match. At those times Abdullah would go into high gear and somehow the people were back screaming again. I had never been a part of a match losing the people and getting them back again. It wasn’t just one time but numerous times during the course of the match. All these years later I still think about that. On night two I was approached by the Invader (yes the same Invader from the Bruiser Brody incident) who was the booker at the time and, therefore, I answered to him. He told me that the match the night before went to long. I strongly concurred with him. He told me to tell them to start fighting in the ring, after a few minutes go outside the ring continue brawling and never come back in. I gave them the instructions they followed them and the match went to a double count out. I do remember at one point watching Abdullah get hit with numerous forearms to the head. Abby was leaning against the ropes and I said "Abby that stuff looks like it hurts". He turned his head to me and said “It Does”. I knew Zeus was doing his best and so did Abby. The office needed the match to work and Abby gave it his all. I appreciated Zeus and the effort he made. This whole wrestling thing for him was like a fish being out of water. If there were any other matches with these two guys I am not aware of them.
Several month's later Rob Russen's IWA was running a show in California. I was his booker and in his selling of the show he promised the people Zeus. He knew about Abdullah and the Puerto Rico matches. I told him we had to have Abdullah carry Zeus or we would be in trouble. He contacted Abdullah who quickly made the statement "do you know how hard I have to work to carry that guy?". He informed Abdulla that he was aware. They made a deal and we were set. It was a strong show that also had Kevin Von Erich on it along with Cowboy Bob Orton. When I got to Zeus he was only half paying attention and he started telling me about working with Abby in Puerto Rico. I asked him don’t you recognize me he looked up, saw me and was so relieved. In putting the match together I actually thought that Zeus would be the heel and I told Abby to work babyface. I thought that with Abdullah’s crazy style and Zeus having the heat from working with Hogan that the crowd would support Abdullah. I can tell you this I was dead wrong. Zeus was over as a huge baby face when he came to the ring. This was not an audience filled with die hard wrestling fans. The exposure from WWE TV made Zeus a huge TV star. The lack of mainstream exposure for Abdullah made him the obvious heel to the fans. It can be argued that Abdullah may be the biggest star ever to not have done two things. He has never done WWE TV or appeared in Madison Square Garden. Of course in the match we quickly made the switch and went on to another brawl and wild finish. To the best of my knowledge that match never took place again.
If I was Vince McMahon I would give Abdullah a chance to do TV at least one time and to appear in Madison Square Garden. I think that hardcore fans would love to see it. I haven’t always agreed with Abdullah but he deserves this chance. It could make for some great TV. Just think of the numerous possibilities. Imagine John Cena bringing him in as the legend who finally gets the best of Randy Orton in a bloody and brutal attack? How about on ECW Abdullah could take out the Boogeyman or what about something with Big Daddy V. The options are many and even the (I don’t have a clue and Vince doesn’t want me to) “Creative” team could come up with a few idea’s.
Imagine you are Vince McMahon right now you know what position your company is in today. You have to sit around wondering what position it will be in thirty days from now. In the days of the Vince McMahon trial I don’t know how confident he was or wasn’t. What I do know is he wasn’t confident enough not to make contingency plans. Vince McMahon brought in Jerry Jarrett as a part of his company in case he had to go to jail. He wanted someone able to handle the day to day business if he was gone. He had made a good choice; Jerry, to my knowledge, wasn’t just a former wrestler/promoter. He was a business man and the best choice to step in. It should have been clear to everyone what intentions Vince had. Once the trial was over I am sure that the move to get Jerry Jarrett out of the company started quickly. It wasn’t long after that he was gone. Was it a good move to get rid of Jerry Jarrett? No I don’t believe that it was.
I have only been in the company of Jerry Jarrett twice. One time was when I went to Memphis with Stan Lane for the six man tag that was supposed to be the return of the Fab's. We had breakfast with Jerry at the hotel that morning and one of the things that he told us has stuck with me and I have repeated it a dozen times. We were discussing the acrobatic style of today’s younger stars and I really have to thank Jerry for putting it in perspective for me. He said that when you see one of these guys doing one of these triple back flips with a twist type moves out on to the floor for the first time you say “Oh Wow”.. The next time you see it you say "Oh isn’t that cute he catches him". Does that give you any kind of an idea why wrestling attendance and ratings are down and UFC attendance and ratings are WAY up? One of the other things that he mentioned had something to do with photos and a goat. I can remember Jerry making another point that I will discuss in a future article. I will just leave it at that with a thank you to Jerry Jarrett for great breakfast conversation that I am sure meant more to me than it did to him.
If you're Dixie Carter right now you can only hope that you have enough intelligence to start putting plans in motion. It would be a great idea to be on the offensive and present Congress with a plan to monitor your company yourself. The plan Congress comes up with may not be as palatable as one you can cook up yourself.
If you’re every other promoter in wrestling be prepared to be put out of business. Where will the dollars come from to comply with any strict guidelines that Congress puts in place? If we are all honest about it 90% of all indy promotions are run out of the promoter’s home or back pocket. The truth is that most of these companies lose money or break even at best. They do not have the infrastructure in place to comply with Congress. I can’t see how the operation that Corey Maclin runs could possibly be able to deal with any restrictions either. It won’t make sense for most people. No matter what I think of Corey, make no mistake about it; his company is profitable for him. If he had to comply with very costly restrictions, even the lure of being on TV all the time may lose its luster. We may be witnessing the end of a lot of wrestling in this country. The good news is that when something is destroyed the rebuilding process begins.
If any one is unsure about Congress and their motivation remember C.Y.A. This is a cover your ass type of operation right now. If Congress lets this slip by without taking action and the deaths keep coming what would they look like? In politics there is always one goal and that is "stop my phone from ringing with anything negative on the other end." If there is no action taken by Congress on this issue I personally would be shocked and disgusted at the same time.
The above picture was taken the first time I met Hulk Hogan in his hotel room at The George Washington Lodge in Allentown Pa. It was taken at the next TV tapings after he won the title.
The commentator is Hugo Savinovich. It was quite an interesting experience; in Abdullah you had the seasoned veteran with his wild man style. In Zeus you had an actor turned wrestler with a great body but very little training. Zeus was by far was not a "natural". He did have the desire to do well and that always helps. It was up to Abdullah to carry this match. I assisted as best I could. A few things stand out in my mind about the two matches. The first match was very up and down. The people were screaming at the top of their lungs at times and at others you could hear a pin drop. I recall Zeus attempting to be vicious and as I was trying to get in between them Zeus shoved me pretty hard. I looked at him and said Zeus don’t shove me like that. He looked over and said I’m sorry. In those days he was bordering on a DQ. At that point I knew he was really trying to make it work. When the very limited skills of Zeus became apparent the people were quiet ... so quiet that I couldn’t imagine saving the match. At those times Abdullah would go into high gear and somehow the people were back screaming again. I had never been a part of a match losing the people and getting them back again. It wasn’t just one time but numerous times during the course of the match. All these years later I still think about that. On night two I was approached by the Invader (yes the same Invader from the Bruiser Brody incident) who was the booker at the time and, therefore, I answered to him. He told me that the match the night before went to long. I strongly concurred with him. He told me to tell them to start fighting in the ring, after a few minutes go outside the ring continue brawling and never come back in. I gave them the instructions they followed them and the match went to a double count out. I do remember at one point watching Abdullah get hit with numerous forearms to the head. Abby was leaning against the ropes and I said "Abby that stuff looks like it hurts". He turned his head to me and said “It Does”. I knew Zeus was doing his best and so did Abby. The office needed the match to work and Abby gave it his all. I appreciated Zeus and the effort he made. This whole wrestling thing for him was like a fish being out of water. If there were any other matches with these two guys I am not aware of them.
Several month's later Rob Russen's IWA was running a show in California. I was his booker and in his selling of the show he promised the people Zeus. He knew about Abdullah and the Puerto Rico matches. I told him we had to have Abdullah carry Zeus or we would be in trouble. He contacted Abdullah who quickly made the statement "do you know how hard I have to work to carry that guy?". He informed Abdulla that he was aware. They made a deal and we were set. It was a strong show that also had Kevin Von Erich on it along with Cowboy Bob Orton. When I got to Zeus he was only half paying attention and he started telling me about working with Abby in Puerto Rico. I asked him don’t you recognize me he looked up, saw me and was so relieved. In putting the match together I actually thought that Zeus would be the heel and I told Abby to work babyface. I thought that with Abdullah’s crazy style and Zeus having the heat from working with Hogan that the crowd would support Abdullah. I can tell you this I was dead wrong. Zeus was over as a huge baby face when he came to the ring. This was not an audience filled with die hard wrestling fans. The exposure from WWE TV made Zeus a huge TV star. The lack of mainstream exposure for Abdullah made him the obvious heel to the fans. It can be argued that Abdullah may be the biggest star ever to not have done two things. He has never done WWE TV or appeared in Madison Square Garden. Of course in the match we quickly made the switch and went on to another brawl and wild finish. To the best of my knowledge that match never took place again.
If I was Vince McMahon I would give Abdullah a chance to do TV at least one time and to appear in Madison Square Garden. I think that hardcore fans would love to see it. I haven’t always agreed with Abdullah but he deserves this chance. It could make for some great TV. Just think of the numerous possibilities. Imagine John Cena bringing him in as the legend who finally gets the best of Randy Orton in a bloody and brutal attack? How about on ECW Abdullah could take out the Boogeyman or what about something with Big Daddy V. The options are many and even the (I don’t have a clue and Vince doesn’t want me to) “Creative” team could come up with a few idea’s.
Imagine you are Vince McMahon right now you know what position your company is in today. You have to sit around wondering what position it will be in thirty days from now. In the days of the Vince McMahon trial I don’t know how confident he was or wasn’t. What I do know is he wasn’t confident enough not to make contingency plans. Vince McMahon brought in Jerry Jarrett as a part of his company in case he had to go to jail. He wanted someone able to handle the day to day business if he was gone. He had made a good choice; Jerry, to my knowledge, wasn’t just a former wrestler/promoter. He was a business man and the best choice to step in. It should have been clear to everyone what intentions Vince had. Once the trial was over I am sure that the move to get Jerry Jarrett out of the company started quickly. It wasn’t long after that he was gone. Was it a good move to get rid of Jerry Jarrett? No I don’t believe that it was.
I have only been in the company of Jerry Jarrett twice. One time was when I went to Memphis with Stan Lane for the six man tag that was supposed to be the return of the Fab's. We had breakfast with Jerry at the hotel that morning and one of the things that he told us has stuck with me and I have repeated it a dozen times. We were discussing the acrobatic style of today’s younger stars and I really have to thank Jerry for putting it in perspective for me. He said that when you see one of these guys doing one of these triple back flips with a twist type moves out on to the floor for the first time you say “Oh Wow”.. The next time you see it you say "Oh isn’t that cute he catches him". Does that give you any kind of an idea why wrestling attendance and ratings are down and UFC attendance and ratings are WAY up? One of the other things that he mentioned had something to do with photos and a goat. I can remember Jerry making another point that I will discuss in a future article. I will just leave it at that with a thank you to Jerry Jarrett for great breakfast conversation that I am sure meant more to me than it did to him.
If you're Dixie Carter right now you can only hope that you have enough intelligence to start putting plans in motion. It would be a great idea to be on the offensive and present Congress with a plan to monitor your company yourself. The plan Congress comes up with may not be as palatable as one you can cook up yourself.
If you’re every other promoter in wrestling be prepared to be put out of business. Where will the dollars come from to comply with any strict guidelines that Congress puts in place? If we are all honest about it 90% of all indy promotions are run out of the promoter’s home or back pocket. The truth is that most of these companies lose money or break even at best. They do not have the infrastructure in place to comply with Congress. I can’t see how the operation that Corey Maclin runs could possibly be able to deal with any restrictions either. It won’t make sense for most people. No matter what I think of Corey, make no mistake about it; his company is profitable for him. If he had to comply with very costly restrictions, even the lure of being on TV all the time may lose its luster. We may be witnessing the end of a lot of wrestling in this country. The good news is that when something is destroyed the rebuilding process begins.
If any one is unsure about Congress and their motivation remember C.Y.A. This is a cover your ass type of operation right now. If Congress lets this slip by without taking action and the deaths keep coming what would they look like? In politics there is always one goal and that is "stop my phone from ringing with anything negative on the other end." If there is no action taken by Congress on this issue I personally would be shocked and disgusted at the same time.
The above picture was taken the first time I met Hulk Hogan in his hotel room at The George Washington Lodge in Allentown Pa. It was taken at the next TV tapings after he won the title.
