I for one am looking for the return of Chris Jericho. The buzz surrounding his “expected” return has peaked. I am not sure what WWE is looking to get out of this. If it was me doing it, I would let the cat out of the bag. If there is any chance that all of this hype isn’t about Jericho they better have some huge surprise planned. I believe in build and hype as much as the next guy. What I don’t believe, at this point, is anything they are going to put together can be better than any interviews that Chris Jericho could do building up to his imminent return. At this point who do they think they are “working”? This total nonsense of getting rid of people’s signs that talk about Jericho is an insult to fans paying good money to attend a WWE event. In this day and age, for the most part, the public wants to know what they are buying and who they are getting. Please just tell the people what is happening. Give the public a chance to believe in you and your product. In a territory when there are too many run in's the people spend too much time watching the entrance to the arena rather than the match in the ring. There is more buzz about who might be coming in than about the guys that are currently there. That can be ok for a week but this is going on for way to long. I do believe years ago that surprises were good. The surprises many times, if not most times, delivered. In recent years most surprises have been disappointments or such poorly kept secrets that it didn’t matter anyway. How about the announcement that TNA made in regards to signing Kurt Angle? Did they actually surprise everyone including the talent? I would have to say that they did. What I would ask is did anymore people tune in than would have tuned in to hear Kurt Angle’s first promo?
In what could be perceived to be direct conflict to what I have written above isn’t it amazing that just like on Dec 25th when we all wait for Santa Claus. On Wrestlemania Sunday, the wrestling buying public believes in Vince McMahon and I am right in there with the fans. I promoted the first Wrestlemania on closed circuit television at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY. I had already promoted a show for WWE and I wanted another one. I had been promised another show if I did well with the first one. We only had ten tickets left when the doors opened and it was a mad house after that. I thought my next show was in the bag. I contacted Ed Cohen (former long time WWE employee) at WWE headquarters. He said they couldn’t help me unless I get a bigger building that could hold at least twenty five hundred tickets. All they would tell me is that it was something called Wrestlemania and it involved Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. I believed in WWE enough to run with it and take the much bigger risk. It all worked out. We had people lined up with lunch in hand at 8:00am. That was only after people hounded us day and night for tickets that we didn’t have left. Its many years later and people seem to trust Vince even more than I did. They have sold about 50,000 tickets for next years Wrestlemania for a show with no talent announced, John Cena on the injured list and a new injury popping up all the time. If Vince could replicate that kind of belief the other 364 days a year what a company he would have. I have tried to think of another event that people pay money for with no idea who they will be seeing perform. I have to applaud Vince McMahon. He has done what all companies would like to accomplish. He has created a brand “WRESTLEMANIA” that is perceived as the symbol of excellence. I look forward to Wrestlemania every year no matter what I think of the company the rest of the year.
FLASHBACK:I can remember driving from Poughkeepsie NY to Philadelphia. I was working for Vince in Poughkeepsie and Crockett in Philadelphia. George “The Animal” Steele was working for Vince in both places. I refereed a match between The Iron Sheik and George. At one point I told The Sheik to go kick George’s doll, does everyone remember his doll "Mine"? Well The Sheik was “working” with the doll. The people were actually into it, but George said look at him working with the doll. Please tell him to kick the shit out of it. Well we were running against each other in Philly and George needed a ride and I could use the company and the transportation he would pay. It was an interesting trip to say the least. When we stopped to eat George of course was recognized by everyone. We had interesting conversation along the way. We stopped for gas and some non wrestling fan asked for directions to Perth Amboy, NJ. George knew the area well and gave him the directions and we proceeded on our way. Well we got to a toll and the car in front of us was taking a long time. Well, George looked at me and said that stupid son of a bitch is asking how to get to Perth Amboy and I just told him. I had to laugh. Well when we got to the toll I tried to pay and George leans over and says to the toll booth operator can you tell me how to get to Perth Amboy? Well the guy started telling us and eventually he figured it out and said you don’t need to know how to get to Perth Amboy. George said I just gave that stupid ass directions and now he asks you again. I always found it to be such a funny story. Working in the ring with George was hysterical anyway. This was just the icing on the cake.
This picture is of Capt. Lou Albano and Afa “The Wild Samoan #1” and I at a radio station in Reading PA. We were promoting a show that Afa was running we had a blast for sure. If you have ever been around Lou Albano you would understand
