WWF: Injecting the Attitude

[Chuck]

**** you and this company Bischoff. I am done with your dumbass. I am done with having to sit through boring creative meetings where you suck up to like Hogan and Kevin Sullivan for hours. I have more brilliant ideas than either of them but ever since you have hired me on you have treated me like your slave and haven't gone for one of my ideas. Remember whose idea it was to bring in half the guys we have brought in with talent such as Benoit and Malenko? Me! I am done going to bat for your ideas in booking meetings only for you to shoot my idea down twenty minutes later. I'll see you in hell you piece of crap.

 

My resignation from WCW went something like that. It wasn't my fault Eric Bischoff is the world's biggest tool. I had been working in WCW ever since January of 1994 doing odd jobs such as refereeing, ring announcing some road shows and most recently joined the creative team. It probably didn't hurt that Ted Turner and my dad are friends but I made sure upon my hiring that I wanted to earn my keep and prove that I belonged in WCW. Around August of 1995 Bischoff listened to some of my ideas and started scouting out new and fresher talent the likes of which the United States wrestling scene had yet to see. By December 1995 however most of the guys brought in were regulated to job duty/undercard roles. No matter how many times I went to bat for everyone it seemed like Bischoff and his boys had other motives. So on Christmas Day 1995 I called Eric Bischoff (Knowing good and damn well he wouldn't answer the phone) and quit WCW (I was able to do this because I was contracted through Turner and not WCW itself so Ted quickly agreed to let me go citing I had "other" things on my mind). The next day Bischoff called me and begged me to come back in saying that "He would listen more" but I had enough of listening to him and his alterior motives.

 

On December 26th, 1995 I had planned on never doing anything in the professional wrestling business ever again. I (At the young age of 24 years old) planned on going back to school and studying for a while and getting a degree finnally. However on December 28th I got what many people would call an unusual phone call. It was from a local wrestling radio show host out of Pennsylvania. Somehow or another he got my number and wanted to know my thoughts on quitting WCW. He said he would relay what I had to say to him to the radio listeners. I told him I had a better idea and to let me come onto his next show (Convienently scheduled for the next day). So I went on the radio show and basically said the following in a long but very well thought out monologue.

 

I quit World Championship Wrestling on Christmas Day this year because it has turned into the biggest hellhole in the professional wrestling business and will only end up worst. Every other day it seemed like we had another guy who did this and drew that back in the day come in tell us what to do. Maybe I am too young and stupid to listen but it all sounded like the same old bull**** that killed the territories and made WCW suck for the first few years of existance. So while my boss Mr. Bischoff listened to what the old jackasses had to say about this and that I took trips to Mexico, Japan and even a few to the ECW Arena to scout talent and try to find the best wrestlers in the world for WCW to use. Bischoff brought in a lot of my guys immidiately and then proceeded to **** on them. Then Bischoff continued to let guys like Hulk Hogan and Kevin Sullivan get in his ear. I have great respect for both men but if Bischoff truly wants to beat WWF and if WWF wants to truly beat Bischoff then something has got to change. The same old childish crap that worked in the 80's will not work anymore today and fans are tired of having there intelligence insulted. This isn't 1984 and Hulkamania isn't running wild, Flair vs. Steamboat doesn't mean dick to the average fan today and people don't want to see guys with characters such as a guy who can shock people or a guy who can drive a racecar. Today's fans want to see a kickass wrestling show with good matches, interesting storys and larger than life heroes and villians killing each other. The more I explained this to Mr. Bischoff the harder it was for him to understand. He continued to do inane things such as push guys to the top who had already been there and offered contracts to guys that made them untouchable and completely unprofessional because they can now do whatever they want. I would like to go ahead and warn Vince McMahon and tell him that people he consider's his friends have talked to me on the phone before about how they hate it up there and would love to come work for WCW. If Vince or Eric Bischoff don't begin to grasp what wrestling should be about here soon then it could mean a lot of guys are put on the unemployment line.

 

After my long rant the radio-host thanked me for coming on and sharing my knowledge with him and the rest of the wrestling world. I said my thankyou as well and told him that I was done with wrestling as of this day. Only that wasn't true at all. The next morning at 6:30 AM as my roommate was preparing for work I got a call on my phone from Vince McMahon himself. McMahon talked very briefly and explained to me he had heard all about my interview on the radio show. I explained to Vince that I didn't mean any disrespect to him at all during the interview and that I was just stating my frustrations with professional wrestling. Vince said he understood and didn't feel disrespected and wanted to come down to Titan Towers for a talk the next day. I told him I probably couldn't because I was making phone calls to try and get back into college. Vince promised he would make it worth my time and that if I still wanted to go to college after the meeting then he could have something "arranged". I told him I would be at Titan Towers at 8 AM (I long drive from my home in Atlanta). And so I was off...

[Chuck]

The next day I walked into the WWF Headquarters nervous as hell. I had been driving almost all night and parked my car into the parking lot of the Headquarters at 3 AM. I then proceeded to get five hours of sleep (Not unusual as I worked for WCW for quite some time) in the parking lot and awoke at 8 AM. After fixing myself up in the car for a moment I walked into the Titan Towers Headquarters where at the front waiting for Vince was Gorilla Monsoon, Pat Patterson, Jim Cornette and a guy who was introduced to me as Vince Russo (Who I had never met before). A few moments later McMahon led all of us into a very nice conference room (Although Vince doesn't have **** on Ted Turner when it comes to conference rooms). Vince sat us down and started to speak...

 

 

All of you know why you are here except for you (In what I would call the most surreal moment of my life Mr. McMahon pointed at me). Recently WWF has recieved scrutiny from everyone in the world... the media, the wrestling fans and even some of our very own employees for being "Cartoonish" and not enough "realism" in the product. This was pointed out to me yesterday by Vince Russo from WWE The Magazine whenever he had just listened to the radio interview of the man across the table from me... I hear your the man who brought in some new faces to WCW and started reshaping some of its landscape?

 

I thought to myself... this is the moment of truth. A face to face meeting with the man who made professional wrestling interesting back in the 80s. The man who captivated my attention with such moments as Hogan slamming Andre. At that moment I knew that I as still in love with wrestling and what a place to be to still be in love with it.

 

Yes sir that was me. I recommended many guys to WCW and they repaid me by screwing me over countless times and refusing to push some of the guys I brought in.

 

I can't believe I just had the balls to say half of that to Vince McMahon. I looked around the room and saw Jim Cornette with somewhat of a smirk on his face... Many people have always known Cornette as somewhat of a smartass... mainly because he was, is and always will be one of the sharpest minds in the business. Vince Russo (Who like myself demanded that wrestling go in another direction) was listening intently, Pat Patterson seemed like he didn't care for what I had to say and Monsoon was hard to read.

 

Wonderful. Well I have a proposition for you. I want you to come work for me. Right now we have a booking team between the five of us but we want someone with vision on the booking team to steer everything in the right direction. I'm not offering you a role as the head booker but I want your opinion on everything and anything to make my product more realistic and appeal to the youth of today. I want wrestling put in the same demographic as Rock Music and all the other things people 16-35 enjoy. I want a roster full of guys who can wrestle, talk and entertain. I want people to talk about wrestling the same way they talk about there favorite television shows again. Can you do this with me?

 

At this moment it seemed like everything I wanted in professoinal wrestling was coming true. I was basically being given a lot of power in the world's biggest and best professional wrestling empire. I looked around at the room and then looked forward to Vince and said.

 

Count me in.

[TheBrockLock]

Color me interested, I love a good attitude era WWF.

[Chuck]

Color me interested, I love a good attitude era WWF.

 

Thankyou sir... this will prove to be quite interesting... I have tons of potential with the WWF roster as it is and some free agents I can have plenty of awesome attitude era happenings.

 

I cant wait to properly push my favorite big guys (Vader and Davey Boy) plus develop some sick talent.

[Chuck]

After I agreed to my new job as the steering wheel driver of Vince's new era of professional wrestling Vince sat me down and gave me a huge notebook which had a list of everyone on the roster, the top guys, the best wresters and other things. Here is exactly what everything said. Vince told me to look it over for a while and page him whenever I saw things necessary of change. Boy was there change needed!

 

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ROSTER:

Faces

Heels

Main Eventers:

Bret Hart

Diesel

Razor Ramon

The Undertaker (Managed by Paul Bearer)

British Bulldog (Managed by Jim Cornette)

Shawn Michaels

Sid Vicious (Managed by Ted Dibiase)

Vader (Yet to debut)

Upper Midcarders:

Ahmed Johnson

Bob Backlund

Goldust

Jeff Jarrett

Jerry Lawler

Owen Hart (Managed by Jim Cornette)

Tatanka

Yokozuna (Managed by Jim Cornette)

Midcarders:

Bart Gunn

Billy Gunn

Bob Holly

Duke Droese

Henry O. Godwinn (Managed by Hillbilly Jim)

Marty Jannetty

Phatu

Savio Vega

The 1-2-3 Kid

Hunter Hearst Helmsley

The Ringmaster Steve Austin

Bodydonna Zip (Managed by Sunny)

 

Lower Midcarders:

Avatar

Hakushi

 

Buddy Landell

Isaac Yankem

Justin Hawk Bradshaw

Bodydonna Skip (With Sunny)

 

Openers:

Barry Horrowitz

Aldo Montoya

Rad Radford

Xanta Claus

 

Enhancement Talent:

Brookyln Brawler

 

Occassional Wrestlers:

Bushwhacker Luke

Bushwhacker Butch

Roddy Piper

Jake The Snake Roberts

Managers:

Hillbilly Jim

Paul Bearer

Jim Cornette

Ted Dibiase

Announcers/Commentators:

Carlos Cabrera

Jim Ross

Vince McMahon

Dok Hendrix

Hugo Savinovich

 

Referees:

Earl Hebner

Jim Korderas

Tim White

Authority Figure:

Gorilla Monsoon

Road Agents:

Brother Love

Gerald Brisco

Pat Patterson

Personalitys:

Howard Finkel

Todd Pettengill

 

Curt Hennig

Sunny

 

 

Champions:

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WWF World Heavyweight Champion:

Bret "the Hitman" Hart

 

 

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WWF Intercontinental Champion:

Razor Ramon

 

 

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WWF World Tag Team Champions:

The Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy Gunn)

 

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WWF King of the Ring Champion:

Vacant until June (Tournament Title)

Franchise Players:

1. Shawn Michaels

2. Bret Hart

3. The Undertaker

4. Razor Ramon

5. Vader

Next Big Things:

1. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Hot Prospects:

1. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

2. Xanta Claus

3. Skip

4. Isaac Yankem

5. Aldo Montoya

Talk the Talk:

1. Shawn Michaels

2. Roddy Piper

3. Razor Ramon

4. Jerry Lawler

5. Mr Perfect Curt Hennig

Show Stoppers:

1. Shawn Michaels

2. Bret Hart

3. Owen Hart

4. Razor Ramon

5. The Ringmaster Steve Austin

Ring Generals:

1. Shawn Michaels

2. Bret Hart

3. Owen Hart

4. The Ringmaster Steve Austin

5. Jeff Jarrett

 

Who's Hot:

1. Shawn Michaels

2. British Bulldog

3. Diesel

4. Bret Hart

5. The Undertaker

 

Who's Not:

1. Vader (Hasn't Debuted)

2. Jerry Lawler

3. Bushwhacker Luke

4. Bob Holly

5. Buddy Landell

[Chuck]

I sat there and looked at the list of wrestlers on the current roster and was almost dumbfounded. Some of the wrestlers on the roster were among the best in the world today (And some of the wrestlers had terrible gimmicks and were godawful wrestlers). I took out a sheet of paper and began writing up a storm... here is what I came up with for everything.

 

The Main Event:

Our current Main Event scene is very very strong with 4 faces and 4 heels. However I think that Shawn Michaels should finnally make the long awaited turn to babyface and turn another a face into a heel to even up the mix a little a bit. Also I noticed Curt Hennig is listed as a personality even though I am quite positive he should be able to wrestle again anyday now. I would like to know the status of Hennig and whether or not he would like to make a full time return to the ring. Adding Hennig to the Main Event would be perfect!

 

Upper Midcard:

A few people in the Upper Midcard group need to turn face as Ahmed Johnson is massively outnumbered by 7 heels. I would experiment with turning a few guys and maybe even cutting Bob Backlund off the roster all together as his usefullness is running out and he doesn't have much gas left in his tank. I can only see about two guys being able to successfully pull off a face turn.

 

 

Midcard:

The Midcard is solid but unspectacular. I would cut Duke Droese and Bodydonna Zip and then consider turning one or two guys in the face division into heels to even out everything. Duke's character has ran its course and I can't imagine him being anything but a garbage man. Zip is getting up there in the years so maybe offering him a backstage position would prevent us from firing him if you wish to remain loyal to him.

 

Lower Midcard:

Ran into my first real huge problem here with the name Isaac Yankem. That gimmick is very childish and the man behind it is very not. So many possibilities with a guy that agile and big but being a dentist isn't one of them. Would highly consider taking him off of Television for a few months and giving him a new gimmick to fit his style and our new attitude a little bit better. We should look at repacking Skip as well with a more modern gimmick as the guy can wrestle very well and the fans are starting to get into Sunny a lot.

 

Openers:

The lowermidcard is saddled with problems. Rad Radford (From what I have heard) is three hydrocotones away from being a publicity nightmare, the Xanta Claus gimmick is terrible and the guy using the gimmick isn't much better, Aldo Montoya MIGHT be able to get over if he was turned face and maybe had his jockstrap taken off of his head. Barry Horrowitz is exactly where he should be... no problem with good old Barry.

 

Enhancement Talent:

Only real problem here is there should be one or two more guys on the list.

 

Champions:

I see a major problem in the balance of who is champion. Too many babyfaces holding titles.... its an easy fix really.

 

Who I would bring into the Company:

Rob Van Dam- A guy who has been wrestling in Japan and most recently Paul Heyman's ECW Group. Very agile and very good on the mic with a decent look. He is like an ungay Shawn Michaels and has an attitude that not many people can touch in and out of the ring.

Chris Jericho- Another guy who has been featured heavily in Japan. Has gotten experience all over the world and with the right tweeking could be a huge star in the WWF.

The Gladiator- The biggest guy I want brought in 6`4 260 pounds and can move with the best of them. A feud with the Undertaker down the line would be money... might want to ditch the Gladiator gimmick though.

Brian Pillman- Don't worry about how to get him... tell me if you want him and he is all yours. His new Loose Cannon Gimmick is the perfect fit for our new attitude.