Tired
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- Feb 7, 2011
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The last 2 years have given wrestling fans a lot to complain about. With it being Christmas, now would be a really good time to think about some of the good things they sometimes do.
* Just as William Regal was about to sign his first WWE contract, he collapsed in front of management. Vince McMahon paid for his hospital treatment, and then paid for his drug rehabilitation. Once Regal was given the all-clear, Vince offered him his contract again.
* Chris Masters’ first WWE gimmick involved offering a cash prize to anyone who could be his ‘Master Lock Challenge’. Masters would apply his Master Lock submission hold to the challenger. If the challenger could escape the hold, he would win the cash prize. The first person to break the hold was a solider serving in Iraq. As part of the script for Tribute to the Troops, Masters attacked a man dressed as Santa Claus. The man revealed himself to be JBL and attacked Masters. However, JBL was supposed to attack Masters AFTER the challenge had ended. JBL plotted with the Referee and Masters to let the soldier win so that the WWE would be obligated to donate the $25,000 prize to the soldiers.
* Maven Huffman earned a WWE contract by winning the first season of Tough Enough. They quickly learned that 3 months was not enough time to train someone with no experience for a full-time career in the company. They had decided to make the 2002 Royal Rumble his final appearance. The Undertaker would give Maven a severe beat down for almost eliminating him from the rumble, thus writing Maven out of the company. But Undertaker intentionally fell out of the ring. Of course, Undertaker pretended that he had “slipped because the ring ropes were wet with sweatâ€. The stunt got Maven over with the fans, and bought him more time with the company.
* After Eddie Guerrero died, Vince McMahon offered to support Guerrero’s family. This involved giving long-term housewife Vickie a highly paid job with the company. This lasted 9 years.
* Since 2003, Shawn Michaels refused to work Tuesdays so that he can continue his outreach work at his own church.
* Bam Bam Bigelow had no money when he died. His family could not afford to have his body brought home. So Vince McMahon paid the bill, and then funded for a lavish funeral service in his hometown.
* Mike Awesome only gave Paul Heyman a few days’ notice when he left ECW for WCW. Awesome was the ECW World Champion at the time and there were no more television tapings left. Heyman was worried that Awesome would disrespect the ECW title on WCW television. After asking Vince McMahon for advice, McMahon loaned former ECW talent Tazz. Tazz then beat Awesome for the title at a house show, and dropped it to Dreamer at the next event.
* To promote the WCW-produced movie ‘Ready to Rumble’, Vince Russo decided to have actor David Arquette win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Russo knew that he wasn’t a wrestler, and it would be disrespectful if someone like him held such a prestigious title. But Russo told Arquette that his title reign was a promotional gimmick, and Arquette was contractually obligated to comply. Arquette tries to be professional about the whole thing and still pretends to have been one of the greatest champions of all time. In reality, Arquette feels horrible about it. He donated every penny he made as WCW Champion to the families of Darren Drozdov, Brian Pillman and Owen Hart.
* Years of substance abuse and poor health had drastically shortened the life expectancies of Jake Roberts and Scott Hall. Diamond Dallas Page took both men into his home and is helping them with their drug, alcohol and physical rehabilitation. He has also helped them raise the money needed for important surgical operations. Not only did Page help get both men inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but he may have also saved their lives.
* Scotty 2 Hotty worked as a part-time fireman throughout much of his wrestling career.
* Paul Bearer couldn’t afford an essential operation in 2005. The WWE offered to pay for the surgery, but he refused it. So the WWE employed him instead. They barely used him and still paid him a very high wage. He had earned the money for his surgery within 2 months.
* Mark Henry regularly holds strongman shows in Texas to raise money for children’s charities.
* JBL is currently doing the ‘Seven Summits’ challenge. This involves climbing the highest mountain on every continent. The aim is to raise several million for various charities.
* The British Bulldog walked out of the WWE after the Montreal Screwjob. Around a year later, Bulldog broke his spine during a WCW match. Management had failed to tell wrestlers about a trap door under the canvas, and Bulldog landed on one of the hinges. The doctors were concerned that he would never walk again. But WCW Management thought he was faking the injury. They repeatedly cut his pay for not working. The WWE offered to buy out Bulldog’s contract and paid substantial fees on top of it. They then helped Bulldog pay for ongoing treatment and painkiller rehabilitation. Once he was medically fit, they offered him a new contract.
* If any ECW wrestler received an offer of higher pay from another company, Paul Heyman would let the wrestler out of their contract. All they had to do was be honest about it. Also, if any wrestler turned down the offer of higher pay, Heyman returned that loyalty. He would attempt to make sure that that wrestler had a job for life while ECW was operational.
* The WWE continues to pay royalties to former employees. If that performer has passed away, they then continue to pay royalties to their spouse or family.
* When the Tribute to the Troops shows were being held overseas, wrestlers were not paid. They had their travel, accommodation and food expenses covered. But participation in the tour was purely optional.
* Several ECW wrestlers have volunteered for backstage roles in order to help the company grow. For a few examples, Dawn Marie helped sell and distribute merchandise; Stevie Richards worked on the ECW Hotline, Raven helped write story lines and booked shows, and Buh Buh Ray Dudley handled accounts.
* The Undertaker offered Kurt Angle, Edge, Randy Orton, Batista and CM Punk each the chance to end his undefeated streak at WrestleMania. All of them had too much respect for the Undertaker.
* TNA pulled Bully Ray from his appearance at House of Hardcore 4 less than 24 hours before the event. Bully Ray promised all HoH4 attendees that kept their ticket stubs a free meet-and-greet with him at the upcoming TNA events in New York City and Ploughskeepie.
* We all know what happened at the Montreal Screw Job. Bret recently confessed that Vince McMahon himself negotiated his WCW contract. McMahon genuinely tried to get Bret as much money and freedom as possible.
* Big Show has often suspended holidays and surgeries for several months in order to put over younger talent.
* Dozens of wrestlers adopted the frog splash as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero. Guerrero initially adopted the move as a tribute to his friend Art Barr. Similarly, D’Lo Brown adopted the frog splash as a tribute to one of his friends. In fact, the name ‘D’Lo’ is a shortened version of his friend’s name.
* Many wrestlers have granted wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation by meeting with sick children at live events. A small selection of heels, including Daniel Bryan, took this further by even losing matches to the children.
* CM Punk once threw his t-shirt to a kid during a live show. But an older man stole the t-shirt from the kid. Punk postponed the show until he got a fresh t-shirt from the merchandise stand and personally handed it to the kid.
When a promising wrestler failed to impress WWE Management, Vince McMahon advised rookies to get more experience in ECW. This wasn’t an insult. McMahon would actually pass on the rookie’s contact details to Paul Heyman.
* Shortly after Eddie Guerrero’s death, a CZW held a 10-bell salute in his memory. During the silence, a heckler yelled “F*ck thisâ€, upsetting the audience and wrestlers. The wrestlers refused to compete until the heckler was removed from the building.
* Molly Holly retired from the WWE to dedicate more time to working with her church.
* For several years, Charlie Haas wrote the name “Russ†on his wrist tape. This was a tribute to his brother Russ Haas, who died just before they were due to be called up to the WWE.
* The stories about Team 3D training Jesse Neal and Chris Melendez for free are genuine. Both men represented the U.S. in military action.
* Speaking of military, all members of U.S. service personal get in to WWE events for free. They often get front row seating.
* The Wellness Policy has been in effect for 10 years. Any person who has ever had a WWE contract can get help for drug, alcohol and painkiller addictions. The WWE pays all costs relating to treatment. If the employee relapses, then they may enter the program again under the same conditions. This can be completely anonymous if they choose.
And my personal favourite:
* Chris Masters saved his mother from a murder attempt by an ex-boyfriend. The suspect barricaded the woman inside her house and set it on fire. She contacted Chris for help. Chris called the police and the fire brigade, but got to the house first. The firemen couldn't get the hose close enough to a window, so Chris tore down a tree and broke a window with his bare arms. He then lifted his mother to safety on his own. While the firemen battled the blaze, Chris hunted down the suspect and caught him before he left the state. Chris gives all the credit to the police and fire men who helped.
* Just as William Regal was about to sign his first WWE contract, he collapsed in front of management. Vince McMahon paid for his hospital treatment, and then paid for his drug rehabilitation. Once Regal was given the all-clear, Vince offered him his contract again.
* Chris Masters’ first WWE gimmick involved offering a cash prize to anyone who could be his ‘Master Lock Challenge’. Masters would apply his Master Lock submission hold to the challenger. If the challenger could escape the hold, he would win the cash prize. The first person to break the hold was a solider serving in Iraq. As part of the script for Tribute to the Troops, Masters attacked a man dressed as Santa Claus. The man revealed himself to be JBL and attacked Masters. However, JBL was supposed to attack Masters AFTER the challenge had ended. JBL plotted with the Referee and Masters to let the soldier win so that the WWE would be obligated to donate the $25,000 prize to the soldiers.
* Maven Huffman earned a WWE contract by winning the first season of Tough Enough. They quickly learned that 3 months was not enough time to train someone with no experience for a full-time career in the company. They had decided to make the 2002 Royal Rumble his final appearance. The Undertaker would give Maven a severe beat down for almost eliminating him from the rumble, thus writing Maven out of the company. But Undertaker intentionally fell out of the ring. Of course, Undertaker pretended that he had “slipped because the ring ropes were wet with sweatâ€. The stunt got Maven over with the fans, and bought him more time with the company.
* After Eddie Guerrero died, Vince McMahon offered to support Guerrero’s family. This involved giving long-term housewife Vickie a highly paid job with the company. This lasted 9 years.
* Since 2003, Shawn Michaels refused to work Tuesdays so that he can continue his outreach work at his own church.
* Bam Bam Bigelow had no money when he died. His family could not afford to have his body brought home. So Vince McMahon paid the bill, and then funded for a lavish funeral service in his hometown.
* Mike Awesome only gave Paul Heyman a few days’ notice when he left ECW for WCW. Awesome was the ECW World Champion at the time and there were no more television tapings left. Heyman was worried that Awesome would disrespect the ECW title on WCW television. After asking Vince McMahon for advice, McMahon loaned former ECW talent Tazz. Tazz then beat Awesome for the title at a house show, and dropped it to Dreamer at the next event.
* To promote the WCW-produced movie ‘Ready to Rumble’, Vince Russo decided to have actor David Arquette win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Russo knew that he wasn’t a wrestler, and it would be disrespectful if someone like him held such a prestigious title. But Russo told Arquette that his title reign was a promotional gimmick, and Arquette was contractually obligated to comply. Arquette tries to be professional about the whole thing and still pretends to have been one of the greatest champions of all time. In reality, Arquette feels horrible about it. He donated every penny he made as WCW Champion to the families of Darren Drozdov, Brian Pillman and Owen Hart.
* Years of substance abuse and poor health had drastically shortened the life expectancies of Jake Roberts and Scott Hall. Diamond Dallas Page took both men into his home and is helping them with their drug, alcohol and physical rehabilitation. He has also helped them raise the money needed for important surgical operations. Not only did Page help get both men inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but he may have also saved their lives.
* Scotty 2 Hotty worked as a part-time fireman throughout much of his wrestling career.
* Paul Bearer couldn’t afford an essential operation in 2005. The WWE offered to pay for the surgery, but he refused it. So the WWE employed him instead. They barely used him and still paid him a very high wage. He had earned the money for his surgery within 2 months.
* Mark Henry regularly holds strongman shows in Texas to raise money for children’s charities.
* JBL is currently doing the ‘Seven Summits’ challenge. This involves climbing the highest mountain on every continent. The aim is to raise several million for various charities.
* The British Bulldog walked out of the WWE after the Montreal Screwjob. Around a year later, Bulldog broke his spine during a WCW match. Management had failed to tell wrestlers about a trap door under the canvas, and Bulldog landed on one of the hinges. The doctors were concerned that he would never walk again. But WCW Management thought he was faking the injury. They repeatedly cut his pay for not working. The WWE offered to buy out Bulldog’s contract and paid substantial fees on top of it. They then helped Bulldog pay for ongoing treatment and painkiller rehabilitation. Once he was medically fit, they offered him a new contract.
* If any ECW wrestler received an offer of higher pay from another company, Paul Heyman would let the wrestler out of their contract. All they had to do was be honest about it. Also, if any wrestler turned down the offer of higher pay, Heyman returned that loyalty. He would attempt to make sure that that wrestler had a job for life while ECW was operational.
* The WWE continues to pay royalties to former employees. If that performer has passed away, they then continue to pay royalties to their spouse or family.
* When the Tribute to the Troops shows were being held overseas, wrestlers were not paid. They had their travel, accommodation and food expenses covered. But participation in the tour was purely optional.
* Several ECW wrestlers have volunteered for backstage roles in order to help the company grow. For a few examples, Dawn Marie helped sell and distribute merchandise; Stevie Richards worked on the ECW Hotline, Raven helped write story lines and booked shows, and Buh Buh Ray Dudley handled accounts.
* The Undertaker offered Kurt Angle, Edge, Randy Orton, Batista and CM Punk each the chance to end his undefeated streak at WrestleMania. All of them had too much respect for the Undertaker.
* TNA pulled Bully Ray from his appearance at House of Hardcore 4 less than 24 hours before the event. Bully Ray promised all HoH4 attendees that kept their ticket stubs a free meet-and-greet with him at the upcoming TNA events in New York City and Ploughskeepie.
* We all know what happened at the Montreal Screw Job. Bret recently confessed that Vince McMahon himself negotiated his WCW contract. McMahon genuinely tried to get Bret as much money and freedom as possible.
* Big Show has often suspended holidays and surgeries for several months in order to put over younger talent.
* Dozens of wrestlers adopted the frog splash as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero. Guerrero initially adopted the move as a tribute to his friend Art Barr. Similarly, D’Lo Brown adopted the frog splash as a tribute to one of his friends. In fact, the name ‘D’Lo’ is a shortened version of his friend’s name.
* Many wrestlers have granted wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation by meeting with sick children at live events. A small selection of heels, including Daniel Bryan, took this further by even losing matches to the children.
* CM Punk once threw his t-shirt to a kid during a live show. But an older man stole the t-shirt from the kid. Punk postponed the show until he got a fresh t-shirt from the merchandise stand and personally handed it to the kid.
When a promising wrestler failed to impress WWE Management, Vince McMahon advised rookies to get more experience in ECW. This wasn’t an insult. McMahon would actually pass on the rookie’s contact details to Paul Heyman.
* Shortly after Eddie Guerrero’s death, a CZW held a 10-bell salute in his memory. During the silence, a heckler yelled “F*ck thisâ€, upsetting the audience and wrestlers. The wrestlers refused to compete until the heckler was removed from the building.
* Molly Holly retired from the WWE to dedicate more time to working with her church.
* For several years, Charlie Haas wrote the name “Russ†on his wrist tape. This was a tribute to his brother Russ Haas, who died just before they were due to be called up to the WWE.
* The stories about Team 3D training Jesse Neal and Chris Melendez for free are genuine. Both men represented the U.S. in military action.
* Speaking of military, all members of U.S. service personal get in to WWE events for free. They often get front row seating.
* The Wellness Policy has been in effect for 10 years. Any person who has ever had a WWE contract can get help for drug, alcohol and painkiller addictions. The WWE pays all costs relating to treatment. If the employee relapses, then they may enter the program again under the same conditions. This can be completely anonymous if they choose.
And my personal favourite:
* Chris Masters saved his mother from a murder attempt by an ex-boyfriend. The suspect barricaded the woman inside her house and set it on fire. She contacted Chris for help. Chris called the police and the fire brigade, but got to the house first. The firemen couldn't get the hose close enough to a window, so Chris tore down a tree and broke a window with his bare arms. He then lifted his mother to safety on his own. While the firemen battled the blaze, Chris hunted down the suspect and caught him before he left the state. Chris gives all the credit to the police and fire men who helped.
