Pro-Wrestling WWF battles lobby, may lose two stars Page

Last updated 15 January 2000

WWF battles lobby, may lose two stars

When it rains, it pours.

The WWF, which has maintained a sizable lead over rival WCW in the ratings war, has taken a number of major hits in recent weeks that threaten to close the gap.

Several major sponsors of WWF programming, including Coca-Cola, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force, have withdrawn their sponsorships on WWF telecasts as a result of an intense lobbying campaign by the Parents Television Council. Brent Bozell, chairman of the ultra-conservative group, has objected to the armed services' purchase of advertising time on WWF shows that, in his view, "glorify wanton and cruel violence." The group also claims recent WWF programming has featured attempted rape, simulated sex, and obscene language and gestures.

The WWF, fearing a domino effect, has countered with a letter-writing campaign and has asked its fans to write to various major sponsors, including the U.S. Navy. The Coast Guard has stated that it will not pull its ads on WWF Smackdown telecasts. The WWF changed its rating designation on last week's Smackdown from TV14 to TVMA.

In a related development, former Connecticut Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., 68, was appointed last week to the board of directors of Stamford-based World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, the parent company of the WWF. The position pays more than $25,000 a year and includes options to buy 25,000 shares of the newly issued WWFE stock.

The WWF also faces the possible end of the in-ring careers of two of its major stars.

The wrestling future of the industry's biggest money-maker, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, remains a question mark. Austin underwent tests on Nov. 19 and again last Wednesday in Philadelphia to determine the scope of his neck injury, but WWF official Jim Ross said it's too early to tell.

"They're still doing tests," Ross told The Post and Courier. "They're still doing a bunch more tests to give us a clearer picture of his condition. We should know something more conclusively in the next weeks. In the meantime obviously, as a precautionary thing, he's not going to be doing any physical stuff because his health is the most important resource that he has, and his health is our foremost concern."

Ross said that Austin is expected to return to television soon, but there's no timetable beyond that.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed that we're going to get good news. Only time will tell. There are no answers until those tests are completed and all that data is thoroughly examined. And then a decision will be made about what he can or can't do from a physical standpoint."

Austin visited noted sports medicine physician Dr. Joe Torg in Philadelphia last week.

According to the WWF Web site, Torg diagnosed that Austin had a bone spur touching his spinal cord that had caused him to experience numbness in his hands, legs and arms. Torg, who also worked with Austin when he suffered a neck injury in the summer of 1997, encouraged Austin to stay active and continue training, according to Ross, who accompanied Austin on his medical visit.

Torg referred Austin to Cleveland physician Dr. Henry Bahman for further testing. According to Torg, Bahman is the "best doctor in the galaxy for this kind of injury." Bahman will determine if Austin will require surgery and will perform the operation if it is deemed necessary. If so, Austin will undergo four to six weeks of rehabilitation, after which he would be re-evaluated. Bahman recently performed a similar surgery on Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken Jr.

Austin, who has been offered a number of spots on network television shows as well as a starring role in a "Nash Bridges" spinoff, is engaged to Debra Marshall, the former Debra McMichael and ex-wife of Steve "Mongo" McMichael.

It also appears that Mick Foley (Mankind), who over the past several years has become one of the industry's most marketable stars, is at the end of his legendary hard-core career.

Foley, who discussed retirement on an "Off the Record" show last weekend, had been scheduled to make a major announcement at last week's Raw in Buffalo, N.Y., but that announcement is now expected to be made on this week's program. Foley will remain with the WWF and could assume the position of figurehead commissioner.

- Last week's column on the Jim Ross parody drew a heavy batch of mixed response from readers, with some justifying the spoof on grounds that "it's only wrestling" and urging me to "lighten up," while others agreed that the segment was tasteless and mean-spirited.

Some pointed to equally lowbrow WWF angles, such as the depiction of Ted Turner and his late father and, more recently, the Paul Wight (Big Show) cancer storyline.

There's no argument there. Two wrongs, however, don't make a right.

WCW scriptwriter and Ross impersonator Ed Ferrara apparently plans to make "Oklahoma" a regular character, although the Ross spoof hasn't been nearly as entertaining in subsequent attempts.

And, just for the record, Ross wasn't thrilled with Ferrara's parody in the WWF either. It simply boiled down to being a team player.

"I've never seen that either," said Ross. "I never watched the replays of any of that when I was disgruntled, deranged, mentally disturbed, unbalanced - whatever the heck it was they wanted me to be. (Vince) Russo wanted to turn me heel because he doesn't believe that people with a Southern accent have any intelligence and people don't respect individuals with a Southern accent.

"They laid out this plan that I didn't want to do at the time. But you try to be a team player and practice what you preach, so you go along with what management wants to do. If I had not wanted to try to support Russo and Ferrara, I would have gone to Vince (McMahon) and told him that I wasn't going to do this. And then he would have said, 'OK, J.R., I understand why you don't want to do it.'"

Ross said that there were a number of things that Russo and Ferrara wrote that he wouldn't have written or he wasn't comfortable doing, but that he "worked hard for those guys," noting that "as long as I'm going to take Vince's (McMahon) money, I'm going to do what the owner wants me to do to the best of my ability."

"It was only about a week ago that I watched the Wrestlemania match with Austin and The Rock, which is the first time I came back to work, and wasn't ready to come back to work," said Ross. "I didn't like the way I looked, didn't like the way I sounded. I remember that day very vividly, holding my face up so I could at least get words out. I had to manually try to hold part of my face up to talk. It was a very challenging experience. I only watched that about a week or two ago. But the stuff that I did with Bart Gunn and Michael Cole, and the announce table thing, which was their (Russo and Ferrara's) concept, I tried to execute it as best I could. However, had I had my druthers, I wouldn't have done it. You try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe my gut instinct was wrong. But I was uncomfortable enough doing it that I subsequently never watched it again, nor do I plan to."

Ross said that the past year has been one of his most challenging, and in light of the adversity, he could have just packed it all in and done something else.

"It's been challenging. I could have just said the business and the people who are in it and the fans who support it are not worth me trying to come back. I could have come back as a producer or done something behind he scenes. But that was a function of not quitting. The sad part is what they don't realize, and honestly neither did I until I got it, is how many people are affected by Bell's palsy. I had the opportunity to reach out to a lot of people who have written me letters and have helped with remedies and potential cures. It affects more people adversely than just me and my family, and they didn't take that into consideration. I guess they think that my family is immune to all this and they are disassociated with it. It affects more than just me."

The Thanksgiving holiday isn't lost on Ross.

"There's too many things to be thankful for. I'm back at work. My family's healthy. My daughter's graduating from college next month, which is a great accomplishment for her. Business has been pretty good, and the ratings are solid. So there's a whole lot more good things happening in my life than bad things. There's too many folks out there who have a whole lot worse-off life than I have, so the last thing I'm going to say is 'Woe is me.' "

- Dusty Rhodes, who was recently released by WCW, has been sending feelers to the WWF looking for work.

- Road Warrior Hawk (Mike Hegstrand) and Randy Savage (Randy Poffo), who have a history of bitter feelings dating back to an incident in Japan several years ago, reportedly had another altercation backstage at a Kid Rock concert in Tampa. Hawk said on a Tampa radio show that he offered his hand to Savage as a goodwill gesture, but Savage responded with a sucker punch.

The fight was quickly broken up, said Hawk, but not before Savage's girlfriend, Gorgeous George, and a friend of George attacked and bloodied Hawk's wife.

Gorgeous George, whose real name is Stephanie Bellars, was featured in a story earlier this year in her hometown paper in Rockford, Ill. The article revealed that she had a criminal record and had spent time in jail as a teen-ager for burglarizing a home and slashing a girl's face with a broken beer bottle.

The article also mentioned her past as a stripper at a local club. The owner of the club where she worked noted that she was a good dancer but didn't have the personality to be a stripper.

Bellars met Savage when she moved to Florida in 1997. She said in that article that she considered herself to be a positive role model for young girls and that she would never wear anything in the ring that would be inappropriate to wear in front of her 6-year-old son.

- Tony Rumble, president and owner of Northeastern-based Century Wrestling Alliance independent promotion, passed away Nov. 13 at the age of 43 of a massive heart attack at his home in Revere, Mass.

Rumble had been recently featured on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" special on pro wrestling.

- Gordon Solie, the dean of pro wrestling announcers, is recovering from an operation to remove his larynx.

Solie soon will be fitted with an artificial voice box.

- WCW has released former tag-team champs Barry and Kendall Windham.

- Hector Garza, who also was released by WCW, reportedly is considering suing a doctor the company referred him to handle his knee surgery. The doctor reportedly is the same one accused of botching elbow surgery last year on Ultimo Dragon. Dragon (Yoshihiro Asai), widely regarded as one of the top workers in the business, recently announced his retirement. Dragon, who was fired by WCW on Sept. 7, is expected to sue the company over the surgery that left him with limited use of his hand and ended his in-ring career.

- Vince Russo, who recently warned Juventud Guerrera that his status in WCW was in jeopardy unless he learned to cut a good, English-speaking promo, may use Guerrera in an envelope-pushing angle involving Kevin Nash that should test the censors at WCW.

- WCW released longtime Eric Bischoff ally Sonny Oono.

- Wrath (Bryan Clark) has been released by WCW. Clark, who was earning $325,000 per year, had spent most of the past year sidelined with an ACL injury.

- WCW reportedly is unhappy with the performance of Stevie Ray and is looking to restructure his $725,000-per-year contract.

- Kristina Loun, who played the role of Kimona Wanalaya in ECW a couple of years back, was interviewed by the WWF about coming in, but WCW also is interested.

- Test (Andrew Martin) suffered a broken nose on the Nov. 11 Smackdown when his nose accidentally hit the bottom rope.

- Stevie Richards suffered a broken leg during his recent match with Chris Jericho on Raw. Jericho, who is getting a reputation of working overly stiff, also gave Chyna a black eye during a recent pull-apart brawl.

- Doug Gilbert, brother of the late Eddie Gilbert, was suspended by Power Pro Wrestling for recent remarks he made during a shoot promo on Memphis television.

What initially began as an angle between Gilbert and Brian Christopher (Lawler), son of Jerry "The King" Lawler, turned into an ugly situation resulting in Gilbert's firing and legal action being considered by Lawler.

Gilbert was given permission to cut a strong promo on Christopher in response to an interview in which Christopher criticized Gilbert and his parents. Gilbert, however, retaliated with scathing comments about Lawler, claiming he had raped a 13-year-old girl and that the only reason Christopher got a push was because his father owned half the company. Gilbert also ran down Power Pro booker Randy Hales, claiming that he had a crack problem.

Lawler, who wasn't at the taping at the time of the interview, reportedly drove to the studio and demanded a copy of the tape.