Pro-Wrestling Taylor, McMahon at impasse Page Pro-Wrestling Taylor, McMahon at impasse Page
Last updated 15 January 2000
Terry Taylor, who is lobbying for the WWF's main scriptwriting position recently left vacant by the loss of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara to WCW, is taking a two-week sabbatical after reaching an impasse with WWF owner Vince McMahon.
Taylor and McMahon met recently to discuss Taylor's reluctance to sign a one-year, non-compete clause that McMahon, on the heels of several key departures, demanded most front-office employees sign. Taylor refused to immediately endorse the pledge that would bind WWF employees from working for WCW for one year after the conclusion of their employment with the WWF.
"He needs to shut up, sign the paper and get back to work," said one WWF official. "It's not too much to expect some degree of loyalty."
Taylor was sent home following his meeting with McMahon and placed on a two-week leave.
Taylor, a former booker with WCW who is now the head of New Talent Acquisitions in the WWF, recently discounted reports that he was considering heading back to WCW, which hasn't won a ratings week since former WCW president Eric Bischoff took Taylor off the booking committee on Aug. 28, 1998.
"I haven't spoken to anybody," Taylor said. "I've had a lot of people tell me they heard I was coming back to WCW, but I'm perfectly happy here. There's no reason for me not to be."
Taylor, who initially was hired by McMahon to help former Russo and Ferrara write television, often tempered some of the WWF's more bizarre storylines with his logical, "make-sense" booking approach. He said he easily related to Russo's situation, since Taylor also was working without a contract when Bischoff canned him.
Taylor recalled how word had leaked in a "dirt sheet" and on the Internet last year that he had been talking to people in the WWF about making a move. He said Bischoff called him into his office and said: "If you don't want to be here, then I don't want you here. If you're talking to the WWF, then you need to go." Taylor said that wasn't the case, and that he had only talked to some of the WWF performers - like Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who he had helped train while Triple H was working in Atlanta. Taylor said Bischoff considered him his "whipping boy" and claims he was verbally abused and underappreciated in WCW.
"It was the same thing that happened to me in January," said Taylor. "Eric said he read on the Internet that I didn't want to be there. He told me to get out. When I asked him if I had asked for my release, he told me no. When I asked him if I had complained, he told me no. Then he told me if I didn't want to be there, to get out."
Taylor, however, doesn't believe that same scenario played out in the case of Russo and McMahon.
"It's not Vince's (McMahon) style to talk to someone like that. He's gracious. I don't see him telling someone to get out."
Taylor, who was asked to sit in on the scriptwriting sessions and pitch ideas in the wake of the departure of Russo and Ferrara, added that nearly half of the 36 WCW wrestlers already cut or projected to be soon released have made calls to him looking for work. Taylor's first two weeks of doing television, however, was heavily revised by Bruce Prichard and McMahon, who ended up doing the bulk of the writing.
Taylor, in a recent interview with The Post and Courier, predicted that his former WWF colleagues would make a major impact on WCW and speculated that Russo would be put in charge of all creative aspects of the company.
"There's no doubt that Vince Russo will be in complete control," said Taylor. "Could you have anyone else (in charge) in light of their (Russo and Ferrara's) track record?"
Taylor, who worked for WCW for six years before his abrupt dismissal, said the quest for power and control in WCW has seriously damaged the company.
"A title should be the last thing these guys are worrying about. The product should be No. 1. And I think that's what these guys (Russo and Ferrara) will instill. People who are insecure and seeking status are the ones interested in titles. That place (WCW) is a mess. The patient is sick. Someone needs to heel it. Whether you're a doctor or a nurse, it needs to be fixed."
Taylor said the WWF will be hard-pressed to find replacements for Russo and Ferrara.
"Nobody can fill their shoes. Vinnie Ru and Ed revolutionized the business. I was lucky to have been there when Eric helped change the face of the wrestling world. And then I come here, and Ed and Vinnie were on the best part of their run. They redefined what sports entertainment was."
Taylor admitted the WWF's loss would be WCW's gain.
"They are the two most prolific writers in the business. It's going to be exciting. Ed and Vinie are a good team and compliment each other very well. Vince Russo is very strong-willed and opinionated, and Ed is very good about keeping things calm. They'll do very well down there."
Taylor admitted that their departure took the company by surprise.
"We kind of got caught with our pants down. We're just trying to adapt and improvise. There was never an inkling that they were going to leave. I work pretty close with with these guys, and they never said a word to me. Maybe not as close as I thought."
- Nitro slightly closed the ratings gap last week with a 5.60-3.51 loss to Raw. Raw registered hours of 5.53 and 5.64, while Nitro posted hours of 3.91, 3.34 and 3.20.
WCW vice president Bill Busch announced last week that Nitro will be cut to two hours beginning in January. The show is expected to run from 8-10 p.m., leaving Raw with no competition in the 10-11 time slot.
Thunder will be taped on Tuesday beginning in December, and the show's air date will be moved to Wednesday since Thunder is being hammered in the ratings by WWF Smackdown on Thursday.
- WCW announcers have been ordered not to mention Hulk Hogan or address his status in the company in order to advance the Hogan retirement angle. Hogan is expected to return under real name Terry Bollea.
- Ron and Don Harris are playing the role of bodyguards for new WCW bookers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara. The twins also have appeared as DOA's Skull and 8-Ball, Jacob and Eli Blu, and The Bruise Brothers.
- ECW TV champ Rob Van Dam will be the guest on this week's edition of Ringside Wrestling Talk 6-7 p.m. Tuesday on WQNT ESPN Radio 1450-AM.
- Several WCW world title tournament matches have been scheduled for this week's Nitro at the Target Center in Minneapolis:
Sid Vicious vs. Scott Hall; Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T; Buff Bagwell vs. Stevie Ray; Curt Hennig vs. Disco Inferno; Madusa vs. Evan Karagis; Lash LaRue vs. Ernest Miller; and Vampiro vs. Berlyn.
- Vampiro re-signed with WCW last week after being released from the company a week earlier. Vamp's original $350,000-per-year contract was dropped when WCW exercised its 90-day clause to release him from the deal.
Vince Russo later told Vamp that the company had big plans for him and could offer him slightly more money, although Vampiro's previous deal did not fall within the new boundaries established by WCW VP Bill Busch.
Vampiro has drawn heat within the company for allegedly working stiff with some of his smaller opponents (such as Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Rey Misterio Jr.) and not protecting them.
- Hardcore Hak (Jim Fullington) was released by WCW and made his return as Sandman to ECW last weekend at ECW Arena in Philadelphia where he made the save for Tommy Dreamer and Raven. Paul Heyman previously had said he had no interest in Fullington due to Fullington failing to give notice when he jumped to WCW last year.
- WWF-bound Taz (Pete Senerca) reportedly has two more matches left with ECW, culminating in a final showdown with Sabu (Terry Brunk) at the November to Remember PPV.
The charges against Taz for allegedly exposing himself to a female minor at a Pittsburgh tanning salon were recently dropped.
- The recently divorced Kevin Nash is dating Chae of The Nitro Girls.
- Scott Hall already has notched an AWOL stint and motel disturbances since his return to WCW.
- This week's "Hollywood Squares" will feature Diamond Dallas Page and wife Kimberly.
- ABC's "20/20" is scheduled to air a story on "the making of a pro wrestler" on Nov. 4.
- Bill Goldberg will be featured in an upcoming article in the Jerusalem Post and Golf magazine.
- Rolling Stone is planning a series of stories that will appear in a special wrestling issue in February.
- Bret Hart will be in England Nov. 2-6 for a promotional tour and is scheduled for an interview with the BBC.
- ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings will air a series on "body imaging." The show talked with Bill Goldberg and fans in Philadelphia on Oct. 18. Tentative air date is Nov. 15.
- A DNA test has conclusively cleared "Dr. Death" Steve Williams in a "deadbeat dads" case initiated by a Sacramento, Calif., woman who claimed he fathered her child. The test showed that there was a zero percent chance that Williams was the father of the girl.
Williams had been indicted for failing to pay $64,000 in back child support after being charged with a felony under the 1998 Deadbeats Parent Act for ignoring a 1995 Oklahoma court order to pay a lump sum of $18,000 and monthly payments of $800 to support the child. Williams requested and was granted the paternity test after claiming that the woman had been with other wrestlers over the years, including the late Buzz Sawyer.
Williams, 39, is still under a three-year contract with the WWF, although that organization has attempted to cut its ties to the former All-American from Oklahoma. The WWF has asked Williams to do a tour with the Japanese promotion FMW, a rival organization to All Japan, with whom Williams has been a headliner for most of the past decade. It is suspected that the WWF realizes that such an arrangement could jeopardize Williams' longtime association with All Japan, and if he refuses to do the tour, could be in breach of his WWF contract.
- Minn. Gov. Jesse Ventura said Friday that Republican turned Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan declined his offer for coffee during his two-day visit to the Twin Cities.
Buchanan, however, didn't see it that way.
Speaking on his weekly radio show, Ventura said he didn't snub Buchanan, who on Thursday made his first visit to Minnesota since leaving the GOP on Monday.
The governor said he was on his way to football practice - he is a volunteer coach at Champlin Park High School - when Buchanan's staff called him late Thursday afternoon.
Ventura said he offered to have coffee with Buchanan on Friday morning for 45 minutes at the governor's residence, but Buchanan declined.
"They preferred a meeting with media and hoopla," Ventura said. "I preferred a private meeting. They chose not to make it happen this morning." He added, "I didn't snub anyone. I was busy doing my job."
Buchanan was in town Thursday for a book signing and a fund-raiser and left Friday morning. Buchanan said he was boarding a flight to Fargo, N.D., when he heard a radio report that Ventura was trying to get in touch with him.