With wrestling ratings in decline, unemployed wrestlers flooding the market, and a economic recession threatening, are we set to relive the early 90's?

Prepare for a rerun of corporate wrestling scandals?

  WCW in the news ....

Executive Vice President of Development for MatRats,  a recently launched "sports entertainment reality series" aimed at under 21 year olds
June 5, 2001 - "Bischoff... received... sexual favors from club dancers"

"Eric Bischoff's name was mentioned earlier today in a federal trial of Steve Kaplan, the owner of the Gold Club, a world famous Atlanta strip club, which has gotten a lot of publicity as its former manager testified many big name athletes were given sexual favors from the dancers. Bischoff's name was one of those mentioned in today's testimony about having received oral sex from a dancer. The story will make virtually every major newscast today and newspaper tomorrow because of the bigger names mentioned in the testimony, such as Dennis Rodman and Terrell Davis."

Dave@wrestlingobserver.com



'Sicignano said dancers provided sexual favors at the club for former World Championship Wrestling executive Eric Bischoff ......" Mitch Stacey, AP June 5, 2001


 
xx "Kevin Nash tied to Club Sexcapade"

"Sicignano ....expanded the list of sports stars who had sex with club entertainers to include Detroit Piston Jerry Stackhouse and pro-wrestler Kevin Nash, whose stage name is Big Sexy.

But Sicignano also insisted he never heard that Kaplan paid the strippers for the interludes with Davis or Big Sexy." The New York Daily News - 06/06/2001

 
"Mob-linked joint comped athletes..."

NEW YORK 12/07/99 -- Source: AmericanMafia.com
http://americanmafia.com/news/12-7-99_Gold_Club_And_Athletes.html

"A mob-connected Atlanta strip club provided thousands of dollars worth of strippers and booze to professional athletes, according to federal sources and investigative records. 

The topless-bottomless Gold Club also gave free liquor and sex shows to former Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman and professional wrestlers Randy (Macho Man) Savage, Diamond Dallas Page, Lou Sabh, Scott Steiner and Saturn, according to the sources and records. 

The club allegedly gave the athletes phony money called Gold Bucks that it normally sells to patrons so they can slip them into strippers' G-strings or "rent" one of the club's 19 VIP Gold Rooms for watching nude lap dances in private.....

World Championship Wrestling officials and representatives of the wrestlers did not return calls seeking comment."

DDP and Kimberly - Playboy shoot
NB - none of the WCW personalities mentioned above face any allegations of wrongdoing.
 
 
  Time Warner and corporate responsibility?

Extract from -  Bruce Mitchell, Torch columnist
Originally published: May 17, 1997

"It's no secret that Eric Bischoff lives up to his rogue image in hotel bars and restaurants after the wrestling shows are over. A lot of the illogical haze that covers WCW comes because often more energy goes into chasing the night than actually planning and executing wrestling programs. Bischoff, who supposedly has a Turner corporate image to uphold, puts in more bar time than many of the wrestlers he supposedly supervises. His behavior during these times has at times been at 180 degrees from what the North Tower at TBS expects from its management.

His drive to be "one of the boys" clouds his judgment, in more ways than one. His inexplicable decision to allow wrestlers to drink in the dressing room exposed TBS to the possibility of million dollar personal injury lawsuits. What do you think a jobber with a lawyer is going to do when he's injured in a match with a WCW wrestler who "had a few" in the dressing room before the match?

.... Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are among the top wrestlers who don't get drug tested. What other main eventers have this codicil in their contract? It would make sense that any of Hall and Nash's peers who signed contracts after those deals got the same stroke. What happens when one of them is arrested for drug possession? Or ODs? Is TBS opposed to illegal drug use, or not? Maybe it just depends on how much money you make. Which begs the question - Why would you ask for this particular dispensation in your contract anyway? "
 
 

 WCW Mailbag

What did Lanny do for his money?
Sometime in 1997,  Lanny Poffo was contracted at $156,000 for 3 years. Maybe Lanny's brother Randy negotiated a $156,000 reduction in his own fee to get Lanny a WCW job? Or maybe Lanny's job come on top of the deal Randy cut with the company. Either way, Lanny got himself a lucrative contract and never once appeared on TV during his 3 years with the company. Does anyone know what did Lanny did to earn his half million dollars?

Is it true?
..... that a group of AOL-Time Warner shareholders are preparing a class action against Time Warner, citing massive losses incurred by WCW over the past two years?

Which hat?
A few weeks ago Eric Bischoff received a $650,000 pay-out from Time Warner. Does this mean Bischoff was working for Time-Warner at the same time he was working with Fusient on the Bischoff/Fusient purchase of WCW?
 
 

  Drugs, wrestling and a duty of care?

"In 1999, ten pro wrestlers under the age of 40 passed away.

And in the past two-and-a-half years (to 2000), in World Championship Wrestling, four wrestlers and two referees have passed away. One died of natural causes. One died in an auto accident. I'm not including them. Three died drug related deaths and one committed suicide and had a past history using a drug known for creating bad mood swings. One, Rick Rude, was 40 years old, and technically at that moment training for a comeback - so he was a manager and not a wrestler, but he was under the employment of the company. How many men were under contract to WCW over the past 30 months? 150? Out of 150, maybe a few more, we've had three overdoses and a suicide of someone with known drug problems."(Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Online, 1 November, 2000)
 

Road Dogg, Shawn Michaels, Brian Lawler, Eddie Guerrero .......

The last few months have seen revelations of Road Doggs drug problems, Eddie Guerrero's "addiction to painkillers", Brian Lawler's arrest for possession of illegal narcotics, and new concerns over Shawn Michaels' "problems with pain pills."  This week, Jason Powell in the Pro Wrestling Torch (online) referred to "panic' among workers in the WWF that  "the Christopher and Guerrero incidents will lead to a "major crack down" from management relating to drug use." What drug use?

 
"December 19, 2000  Road Dogg (Brian James) released by WWF. James said he had no ill will against the WWF for letting him go, and it was mentioned that they had put him into drug rehab twice."
"Eddie Guerrero is scheduled to fly home this morning and will immediately enter a drug
rehabilitation facility for his addiction to painkillers at the insistence of WWF management. The source reports that Guerrero has not been terminated by the WWF and is expected to return to work once he successfully completes his stint in rehab.

There will likely be some questions raised by management deciding to retain Guerrero only a week after terminating Brian Lawler (following his arrest for possessing illegal narcotics). WWF management is said to be more understanding of Guerrero's problem because it involves drugs that were prescribed to him by a doctor, while Lawler was caught with illegal narcotics.

Sources backstage at Raw report that Eddie Guerrero was sent home prior to the show for "unprofessional behavior." One of the sources described Guerrero's pre-show behavior as being "much worse" than that of Shawn Michaels, who was sent home from Smackdown on March 27 for his "unprofessional behavior" the night before at Raw.

Some WWF wrestlers are said to be "in a panic" as they believe the Christopher and Guerrero incidents will lead to a "major crack down" from management relating to drug use." (Jason Powell, Torch online, June 05, 2001).
 

 WWF Mailbag
A fair and just man
Dear Vince, Isn't it about time WWF went back to drug testing. I know that steroid bodies mean ratings, but felony drugs are illegal. Wasn't that the message WWF wanted to send when you stooged on Dr Hackett of Indianapolis? Finally, I know you've always considered yourself a fair and just man. So why didn't the two Brians (James and Lawler) get the full $80,000.00 rehab treatment, like Regal and Eddie?

'Apples and Oranges' says Jim Ross
Jim Ross [in an interview with Slam Wrestling]  takes exception with reporters, critics and fans who feel the WWF is being hypocritical in its handling of Guerrero [and] Brian Christopher.

"Brian Christopher's deal was an entirely different matter. He was caught with illegal drugs in his possession. Eddie Guerrero was not caught with illegal drugs in his possession. How they can be one and the same is beyond me."

"Both these issues are as different as an apple and an orange," continued Ross...."I think we handled them appropriately in both situations. We're not going to tolerate the illegal stuff that Brian unfortunately got experienced with. Eddie's issues are a whole different ball game. People that are looking at them as if the were the same, I think they must be insensitive people because you've got one guy being caught for having some illegal drugs to party with and you've got another guy with a problem. They're totally different issues. Anybody with any degree of common sense can see that."

"Brian did not show any signs (that he had a drug problem). None of us had any indications that he did or does have a drug problem. There was never any tardiness, there was never any of him being inordinately late for work or uncooperative, no mood swings or absenteeism that one would correlate in any workplace with these sorts of issues. So it was a shock to all of us when Brian was arrested in Calgary. And he made a very, very costly mistake. A total lapse in judgment. From the use of the illegal substances, if that is indeed true, to certainly the possession of them."

Asked if these two incidents prompt the WWF to institute a comprehensive drug testing policy, Ross answered an emphatic 'No'.

"We do drug tests upon cause or we take appropriate action upon cause. We had a situation where in our view Eddie Guerrero was unfit to work and we took action. He's in therapy. I don't know what else I could do with him?"

http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBiosR/ross_01jun8-can.html

WWF drugs policy?

Following the Brian Christopher sacking, a WWF spokesman Gary Davis was quoted as saying,  "I think our actions speak loud and clear about how the WWF feels about drugs" (May 31, 2001).
Based on recent WWF actions and the interview (above) with Jim Ross, Head of Talent Relations, the WWF policy on drugs currently appears to be -

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