The NY 64: WWE's Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic

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Best Not WWE Name This poll is closed.
Up North	70	41.92%
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Titan	12	7.19%
Stamford	18	10.78%
The XXX Porno Wrestling on the Other Channel	46	27.54%
Total:	167 votes

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Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

I remembered WWE killing Owen Hart, continuing with the show, and then doing another show the next day. I had blanked out them airing footage from his funeral without his family's permission. Jesus Christ.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2018 18:13

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 00:43

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

Davros1 posted:

The real infuriating thing about the Piggy James thing was that they had done the same thing to Molly Holly years before.

Oh yeah. And Chris Nowinski being determined to take her virginity.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2018 19:03

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

Went with Snuka, although the Iraqi sympathizer thing was notable for getting a secondary spinoff entry of Vince trying to get Meltzer fired from The National for rightly reporting on all their disgusting horseshit. That reporting and then the Observer afterward reporting on how Vince tried to get him fired is good reading.

They also made up a bomb threat to move their failing Wrestlemania to a smaller venue. Man, the Iraqi angle was just a series of poo poo shows.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2018 04:34

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

Was just randomly reading 1997 Observers and came upon this letter after Austin's neck got hosed up from the piledriver:

quote:

August 25, 1997:
AUSTIN/OWEN HART
The Owen Hart-Steve Austin injury certainly starts one thinking. What would have happened if Austin was paralyzed? When do you
drop the work, big PPV show or not, and get him help? If time is critical, do you endanger his life just to keep the storyline going?
With all the crazy bumps it seems like only a matter of time before someday we�ll witness a big accident. That�s just the odds. But
will things be made worse by someone trying to not let reality enter the picture?
Richard Koz
Oak Park, Illinois

Good to know that less than 2 years later, in a match with one of those same participants, WWE would conclusively answer all those questions and how they would react during a PPV when something awful happened.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2019 19:39

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

Also reading the old Observers has shown me that although it resulted in some stupid visuals at times, WCW pretty much always made sure Sting was safely and securely harnessed before ever doing anything with him. Even when it led to him having to stand around and look stupid while getting into/out of the harness or needing to be in a specific spot to be lifted and not hit anything on the way back up, it was always kept safe. By the time the next week rolled around, everyone would forget about it anyway and just remember that Sting came in and not that he had to shuffle in place for a minute. Just reiterates how incredibly not worth it the quick release harness deal was for something that wouldn't even be remembered the next night even if it had gone smoothly.

Shockingly, WCW stunt safety went out the window mainly AFTER Owen died when they wanted wrestlers driving monster trucks and vehicles in ice and punching windows, etc.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2019 20:06

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

The Pillman thing is interesting to read through. The immediate week of, everyone seemed to be too shell shocked and reeling to even coherently think about it or react to it. However, by the time a week passed, the grossness of it became more apparent. Especially with how WWE hyped it for ratings throughout the RAW.

quote:

Wrestling Observer October 20, 1997

So this was the week the corpse of Brian Pillman was being used by everyone for their own personal vendettas. At least, that�s what everyone was saying about their enemies.

Whether it was Eric Bischoff saying how disgusted he was about the WWF and the USA Network using the death and rushing on the Melanie Pillman interview the very next day to draw a rating on 10/6, something that was the prevailing view from virtually everyone within the industry we spoke with as the week went on; to the complaints not only about having teased the interview through most of the show but of the nature of the interview itself; or Jim Cornette claiming Phil Mushnick was using the death to further a personal vendetta against the WWF in his editorial on the 10/13 Raw; or the belief that the WWF put Cornette up to doing the promo, which was delivered better than probably any pro wrestling interview all year, to use the corpse of Pillman to cut a promo on Mushnick based out of fear of what someone from the outside looking into this situation would discover; to the tremendous amount of secondguessing in hindsight about how everyone in and out of the business handled the touchy situation. Brian Pillman lived for being the center of controversy. And in death, the situation turned out to be no different.

After reflecting back one week, without question the Melanie Pillman interview in hindsight was a bad idea. While I haven�t spoken with anyone in the WWF on the subject, I�d be shocked if in hindsight they at this point haven�t come to the same conclusion and there are people who have given me that impression. It was too soon. It shouldn�t have been done live. Some questions appeared to be asked attempting to garner a close-up of her crying. Given certain realities of the situation, it put Mrs. Pillman, already in an incredibly emotionally trying situation for both obvious and not so obvious reasons, under a microscope that she didn�t deserve to be put under. My impression is that the interview stemmed from a conversation that Vince McMahon had with her the previous night, where she spoke about wanting to warn other wrestlers and their families about pain killers and for them to try and avoid a repeat of this situation.

McMahon said that he wanted to put her on television to say that, but the point didn�t get across as well for a variety of reasons. The fact the interview was teased throughout the show and they showed the photos from his basement did come off as ratings-driven. I�d hate to think so but recognize the realities of this business and know that it is a possibility and it isn�t as if the record companies that promote Rock & Roll stars don�t have business plans of making money off deaths considering that�s the one industry where the per capita mortality rate seems to be worse than pro wrestling. In the video that aired after the interview, I was uncomfortable with them claiming that his 1996 car wreck was the result of a drunk driver when it was actually him losing control of the vehicle and running off the road and being thrown from it when it rolled.

Personally I�m willing to cut McMahon and the WWF a lot of slack for how it handled 10/6 if only because if there were numerous errors in judgement in how things were handled, everyone making those decisions was also under a tremendous amount of emotional stress. There was criticism of the promotion not announcing the death to the fans in St. Louis for fear it would dampen the enthusiasm of the live crowd at the PPV. Certainly it put a shadow on the PPV portion of the event. Just as the show was going on the air, the WWF told Elliot Pollack, Pillman�s business agent (not to mention USWA commissioner), that they had decided not to mention the death at all during the show, but then minutes later changed their mind.

quote:

I have mixed feelings about the way Vince McMahon handled the situation. He could have canceled or postponed the PPV show, which everyone would have understood considering the circumstances. But he didn�t. After all, the WWF set a new attendance record in St. Louis and since this was a PPV, the financial bath he would have taken had he canceled a PPV show would have been huge and the damage could have been irreparable. The ten-count ceremony the next night with the faces and heels standing together in unison was a class act. But it should have stopped there. The Melanie Pillman interview was unnecessary, and at times, downright cruel. She may have consented to do the interview, but why am I inclined to believe that there wasn�t at least some pressure from McMahon for her to go on television the night after her husband had died. If McMahon even thought for a second about using the death as a ploy to pump up the ratings, he�s a very sick individual who deserves all the misfortune and troubles the wrestling war has laid out on him.

Why was it necessary to show live footage of the Pillman house every ten minutes? Was it necessary for the cameras to do a close-up on Melanie�s grieving face? It was bad enough that McMahon was asking her stupid questions like, �How will you and your five children be able to go on?� It was as if McMahon�s sole purpose was to make her cry on national television. It would have been better if she was allowed to grieve quietly with her family, and then the next week, after the funeral, come on Raw and give a taped prepared statement with no annoying questions being shoved her way, so that she could express her true feelings and thank everyone for their support and condolences.

I hope that Brian Pillman has finally found the peace and quiet that he didn�t have in his short turbulent life. Whether you liked him or didn�t like him, he will be missed by all of us.
Ramon Lores
Flushing, New York

Tato fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Jan 8, 2019

# ¿ Jan 8, 2019 16:18

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

This poll did a good job of exposing people to all the stuff WWE has done. They were inexplicably able to sweep the Ring Boy scandal under the rug when it happened due to a lack of the internet/exposure and the steroids stuff blowing up around the same time. It shows how effective they were at burying it and how cravenly evil they are that they would hire back the people doing it shortly thereafter. If I hadn't done a re-read of 80s/90s Observers recently I never would have even known about it.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2019 20:41

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

Dino Bravo got killed by the mafia in Canada for getting in on the cigarette smuggling. Not sure how much unsavory stuff he got into but the dollar amount was enough to get him murdered.

You could also add Kurt Angle for all his DUI/Pill driving arrests and stalking Rhaka Khan

Tato fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Jan 21, 2019

# ¿ Jan 21, 2019 16:07

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 00:43

Tato: Jun 19, 2001; DIRECTIVE 236: Promote pro-social values

How much money does the guy need? He was rich even before his main event run as some fan died and apparently willed him a six figure inheritance. He wasn't related to him or anything, just the world's #1 Shawn Michaels super fan.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2019 15:19

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