The Hardcore Truth
Page 29
In January 2009, 15 years after I’d started with the company, we parted ways. It would have been nice to get some acknowledgment for my hard work. I’m not talking about the Hall of Fame — that’s just another way for the company to make money. The WWE Hall of Fame is the biggest crock on the planet. When you’ve got a guy like Drew Carey in there, a guy who has done nothing for the wrestling business, that tells me that if you’re a television star, they might put you in the WWE Hall of Fame to get some publicity. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the NFL Hall of Fame, the NBA Hall of Fame — people in there are recognized all over the world for their accomplishments and it’s a big deal. You wouldn’t see the NBA inducting Jack Nicholson into their Hall of Fame because he goes to watch the Lakers!
All I wanted was a good storyline that I could make some decent money with. That would have been my gold watch, so to speak. I look at guys like Mark Henry, who were utility guys year after year, and they are finally getting used. A lot of people say, “He’s been here a while, he deserves that spot.” Nobody ever said that about me. That does bother me — I deserved a better spot than I had. I put in so much time and enhanced so many people over the years. I was talented enough to carry a storyline. I’m not suggesting they should have used me in the main events, but I am saying they should have used me for something. I’ve seen them give chances to guys who “really deserved it” — I worked just as hard as them, put in just as much time, and did everything I was asked, but I don’t think I got the run I deserved. It hurts that nobody seems to say, “He deserved better” about me.
Every single person who works for WWE goes there hoping to make a lot of money. To do that, you have to get to a point where you’re used regularly in programs that draw money. Being made a singles champion means you’ll make more money. The most-asked question in the locker room is “When is it going to be my time?” I guarantee the boys who are either used to get somebody else over — or simply not used — are all thinking, “My time is coming. I’ve just got to keep going.” Not true — they’ll use you when they want and not a minute sooner. God forbid you complain out loud. It does no good to complain. Crash used to do that a lot, asking, “Why aren’t they doing this or that with me?” Albert used to do it too. As far as he was concerned, he should have been in main events and getting a good push. He was sure to let everybody know it. Both of those guys were let go in part because they were so vocal about their lack of push. WWE has a lot of guys sitting out on the porch, so to speak, but it’s a very select few who get to come inside the house and sit at the table. If you complain, you get thrown off the porch.
The only time I really made a point about my standing in the company was some time in 2005. I remember being in catering and watching back the previous week’s show. One of the commentators said something about me being “one of the toughest guys in the locker room.” That got me thinking, and I ended up deciding to go and find Vince to talk about it. As it happens, I ran into both Stephanie and Vince in the hallway and said, “Hey, I have a question for you both — if the commentators are telling the whole world that I’m one of the toughest guys in the locker room, why am I losing all the time?” They both just stood there, staring blankly and searching for an answer. Eventually, Steph said, “You know, that’s a good question.” Vince said, “We’ll get back to you on that.” They didn’t.
I only ever complained far away from the locker room. I wouldn’t even complain in the car because you never knew who it might get back to. Of course it’s frustrating when you’ve got the tools to go further and you’re not being pushed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I should have been World Champion or anything but if they can make a main eventer out of Sheamus, who telegraphs so much of what he does and can’t even do a decent headlock takeover, I think it’s a fair thing to wonder why they never gave me at least a better spot than I had. Athletically, I was definitely good enough. I knew how to work an exciting, safe match, hit the time cues for TV, and tell a story. Granted, I wasn’t good on the microphone to begin with, but my promos got better over the years. Hell, Jericho is the king of promos and he enjoyed my later stuff, so I must have been doing something right. . . . Go back and look at some of The Rock’s earlier promos; he couldn’t talk to save his life but look how he turned out with time and practice. I’m not bitter — I was happy doing what I was doing but I wasn’t satisfied, if that makes sense. I just couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting used in programs that meant something.
Take Santino Marella — he’s a funny gimmick and that’s about it. They put the IC belt on him in his first week, and he’s also been the US Champion since then. I’m a better wrestler, I look better . . . so I find myself wondering exactly what it was that stopped me getting used at the same level. I looked and performed like an athlete, and you can’t tell me those facts were rendered completely irrelevant because I wasn’t great at promos. Still, it’s the only thing I can figure Santino has on me. I don’t begrudge him his success but I would like to know why I never got a good opportunity to be more of a player. I want people to understand that, if they were in my shoes, they’d ask the same questions. It’s like feeling you’re being passed over for a promotion when you’ve been at the company longer than everybody else, and the guy who gets the promotion isn’t anywhere near the worker you are. I think anybody would be annoyed by that.
In the end, after 15 years, I didn’t even get a note or a phone call from Vince McMahon to thank me. You would think that he would thank each and every talent for busting their asses, putting their bodies through hell, keeping up with the schedule, and doing what they had to do to help make the product what it is. You’d think wrong though. Unless you’re at the level of ’Taker, Triple H, or Shawn Michaels, you can forget about the company being grateful for your work. It’s a thankless industry.
PART 17: PLAYING THE GAME
So why didn’t I get further with WWE? I believe it was politics. Now, you’re going to get politics in any company, but the situation is worse in WWE than in any other job I’ve seen. It doesn’t matter how good somebody is. It’s about being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right person. Look at Batista. Don’t get me wrong, I like Dave but when they started his huge push, he was one of the worst wrestlers ever to step into the ring and couldn’t talk either. He did improve with time because he learned from one of the very best in Hunter but, in the beginning, he was still too green for his spot and only got the big push due to his impressive look and Hunter bringing him into his inner circle.
And make no mistake — everything goes back to what Hunter wants. It’s all a game to him. He wasn’t satisfied just being in the business. He wanted a lot more and he set out to get it. This is just my perspective after seeing how everything played out backstage, mind you. Vince liked him, he ended up doing an angle in which he married the boss’s daughter, and when she started to have real feelings for him, what do you think he was going to do? I’m sure he does genuinely love her now but I’m not sure how genuine he was with her at the very beginning. I think he was in love with the business and saw it as his way to the top of the industry. He’s a smart fucker. He’s both good and bad for business. He’s a great wrestler who knows what to do in the ring. I recently watched one of my matches against him from back in the Attitude era and it reminded me of just how good he is. He was always very gracious to me in the ring, very unselfish, and that’s because he understands how wrestling works, but he bases too many of his backstage decisions on how he feels about somebody. Vince bases his decisions on how much money he could make from a person or a situation; that’s the difference.
I want to like the guy — I really do. He’s great in the ring, nice to your face and fun to be around, but it’s hard to like him when you know about all of his backstage maneuvering and how he’s screwed with people’s lives. Hunter has buried many a good worker just because he didn’t like the guy. He nearly killed Cena right from the get-go. When you
think that Cena has been the company’s biggest cash cow for the last decade, it shows you how much Hunter knew about that deal. He always buried Jericho, he nearly got him fired. So many guys could have been a lot more than they ended up being. Kane, Booker, R.V.D. — all buried by Hunter. Rob Van Dam could have been huge. C.M. Punk is one of the top guys now but he could have been the guy. Even though Hunter never liked him, they had no choice but to go with Punk because he got over. You’ll notice that Hunter made sure to go over on him though, to make sure everybody knew Punk wasn’t on Hunter’s level. Where’s the sense in that? It just took away Punk’s momentum when he was the hottest thing going. Punk could have made so much more money for the business if Hunter had had the balls to put him over.
It’s got to be insecurity. It’s strange, because he’s such a great wrestler. He’s got such a great mind for the business and he’s actually a decent guy, as he showed when he took us all to that zoo in Australia. But when it comes to company politics, if he doesn’t like you, he’ll fuck you over, no matter how good you are. It’s a crying shame.
Face to face, he acts like he’s your best friend, but as soon as you turn away, out comes the knife. I’m not going to mention names because the people in question still work for the company, but I was told several times by several people that Hunter used to bury me directly to Vince in meetings. Once he was in power, I was going nowhere — especially after the incident with Duprée. I wish he’d had the balls to tell me what he really thought of me to my face. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a coward for never giving me any indication there was something wrong between us.
Bret Hart hit the nail on the head when he said that Hunter tries to keep all of the money for his cronies. When they started up D-Generation X again in 2006, Billy, Road Dogg, and X-Pac wanted to come back in but Hunter put the kibosh on that. He wanted to keep it to just him and Shawn so that they could split the merchandise royalties two ways rather than five. Sure, they brought the others back for Raw 1000 but that’s not the same as doing a proper run with everybody from D-X where they can all make money. Even then, at Raw 1000, they didn’t bring Chyna back and she had been a big part of the group. I don’t know why they didn’t — and before anyone says it’s because of her recent “career choices,” didn’t Waltman appear in one of those movies too? Bottom line is that everybody’s got skeletons in their closet. Booker T and MVP had both served time, yet WWE still used them, so who gives a fuck? If they were going to do a D-X reunion, they should have brought them all back.
Consider this — in 2011, Hunter came back after a year out. His first match was the second biggest match at ’Mania, against Undertaker. Then he wrestled a couple of matches, buried Punk, got a main event against his buddy Nash — who has no business being in the ring anymore — and came back again just in time for another huge payday at 2012’s ’Mania, against Undertaker again. His next match after that was the main event of SummerSlam against Brock Lesnar. Once again, a big money spot. Some of the other boys are struggling and could have used that money and the exposure of wrestling guys like ’Taker and Brock. Hunter doesn’t need those paychecks, and the business doesn’t gain from him being in those matches. He keeps people down so that they can’t achieve success and make money for their families. It’s a real shame he feels the need to do that.
PART 18: THE INTERNET
It’s no secret that I have my issues with the internet. I’m not the only one — a lot of wrestlers go nuts because so much of the so-called news isn’t credible. Rumors go around and around until people believe what they’ve read. Anybody can say anything on the internet, and it seems that you don’t need to be accurate anymore. Now, it’s not like I go out of my way to find out what people have been saying about me but it tends to get back to me in one form or another.
Take my Wikipedia page, for example — I’ve had such trouble with that. At one point, it said I was born in Grants Pass. I was born in Glendale, California! But if you believe Wikipedia, I was born in Oregon, as well as having been married to Cathy “B.B.” Dingman (I have no idea where the marriage rumor came from. I don’t kiss and tell but I definitely wasn’t married to her — you can check any marriage record anywhere!), and a whole bunch of other crap of questionable accuracy. I’ve had it changed back for me a number of times, but after a while, somebody else logs in and changes things again to reflect what they’ve heard and assume to be right. That’s the internet for you; anybody can write anything and it gets legs and runs. Hell, at one point, my Wikipedia said that I was currently in a Pennsylvania jail, arrested for a bar fight. I read that when I was sitting in my den, watching TV. It worries me because kids use Wikipedia in school these days, so they could be learning things that aren’t real facts. I’ve had to deal with the fallout of being painted as a bad guy by the internet. A lot of wrestling sites got all worked up about the Matt Cappotelli deal, so they labeled me a prick and a bully. When people meet me, they realize I’m nothing like how I’m often portrayed. I feel like I’m constantly trying to prove what the internet says about me is wrong. My job was to portray a vicious bastard and I was good at my job! Glen Jacobs is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Kane is a homicidal maniac. Nobody confuses the two of them. I guess it’s easier to believe my act because we all know people who are like that. Just because I played the role on TV doesn’t mean that’s who I am! If somebody dicks me over though, they’re going to get what’s coming to them. If people are decent to me, I treat them with respect.
Fishing Diamond Lake, Oregon in 2010. It was freezing that day!
CHAPTER 35
FLIRTING WITH THE INDIES
After my release from WWE, I got a call from TNA. I knew they weren’t going to pay me right, so we didn’t even get that far. I just said no. I felt let down by wrestling and the people in the industry. I got a bunch of calls from various independent promoters too, looking to cash in on my years on TV. I wasn’t interested. I just didn’t care anymore and thought I’d had my last match. I didn’t want to be one of those guys who stumbles through a match and bleeds like a stuck pig in the ring because they need the money. I think a lot of the boys need to know when to stop wrestling and just make appearances so they don’t become a parody of themselves. I guess they need the money in some cases. I’m lucky in that I’ve got a trade, which many of the guys don’t have, so if I ever need money, I’ll go back to being a mechanic or a welder.
I was always smart with my money when I was with WWE, so I didn’t need to go back to work unless I wanted to. I could have made good money on the indie circuit too — more than I was making with WWE at the end. The funny thing is that most people would read that and think, “How can you make more on the independent circuit than in the big leagues?” They think that if you’re on TV with WWE, you must be making at least three or four grand a week. Let me tell you something: unless business is red-hot, when you’re mid-card or undercard with WWE, you’re lucky to walk away with a thousand dollars a week after expenses. You can make a good amount of money, sure — but you end up spending most of it in order to keep making that money.
For my last few years with the company, my downside guarantee was $175,000 and I didn’t end up making any bonuses beyond that because I didn’t get many PPV shows or any merchandise or real royalties. $175,000 looks nice on paper, sure, but from that, you’re paying taxes, health insurance, and most of the expenses including rental cars, gas, hotels, and food on the road. The only thing WWE pays for is your flight. You can essentially work a regular job, end up with almost as much money, and sleep in your own bed every night. A regular job isn’t going to break down your body the way wrestling does. You just can’t keep wrestling beyond a certain age, so unless you work on top, you’re going to have to be very smart to get out of the business with savings by the time your body is done.
So many of the younger guys act like they are superstars before they are making superstar money. When Muhammad Hassan cam
e in, he was making huge money. He hadn’t been in the company for six months, he had such an easy gimmick to get over, and he was working with Hogan, so he figured he’d keep making that money forever. He was staying in $300-a-night hotels, getting the most expensive rental cars . . . he thought he was untouchable. He got so much heat in the locker room because he had an ego like you wouldn’t believe. Nobody went to bat for him when his character got cut, and he ended up homeless. Guys like that don’t get that this is just a job that isn’t going to last forever. They’ve got to think about the future.
I was lucky enough to be with the biggest wrestling company in the world when it was at its most popular. We all made so much money back then. One time, I got paid $4,500 for walking down to the ring with Crash on RAW. He was wrestling Bradshaw at the Georgia Dome and I just stood in the corner. I made nearly as much for that as I did for wrestling Brock Lesnar for the WWE title on PPV. Go figure. I was lucky to have a few good years with a $275,000 guarantee and the one year that I made $400,000, so I was able to put enough aside to retire comfortably. If I hadn’t been part of the Attitude era, I wouldn’t have been able to get out of the business. I don’t understand how the mid-card guys these days can get by, given what they’re earning.
In the end, I took a few bookings on the independent circuit. On the indie shows, the promoters paid for flights, transported me around, put me up, and then paid me per show, so with the limited expenses and by doing two or three shows at a time, I came back with a good chunk of money. In WWE, I was working underneath in a role that wasn’t going to draw. On the indie circuit, a guy who had been in WWE for as long as I had was the featured talent, so I was in a better position to get paid.