Shining the Spotlight 7.14.06: Selves and Destruction
Posted by Michael Weyer on 07.14.2006
A look at RVD's fall and how drugs, ego and combinations of both have led some of the biggest stars to spectacular falls. Plus, reader mail.
For the last week, the talk online has been on RVD and Sabu. Well, more about RVD, the man who finally had the chance to be the top guy and ended up blowing it in only a few weeks. From what I can tell, the talk is pretty much separated into two camps: the guys who seem truly shocked and the ones who saw this coming inevitably. I guess I'm in the halfway point. I figured it was only a matter of time before RVD's habits came to haunt him but that it happened at a time when he finally got his shot at the big belt was a surprise.
Despite what some will say, RVD has no one to blame but himself for this. He knew the rules of the wellness policy and knew how serious McMahon would be about it. Maybe he thought being champ and poster boy for ECW would protect him, a naive attitude that's just been proven false. Now Larry Czonka just talked about how a lot of people were saying this wasn't a big deal as "it was only pot." It's one thing if he had been smoking it in his motel room or on a bus. But he was driving under the influence and is lucky he didn't get into a wreck.
While I admit RVD has long been cool in the ring, his backstage attitude leaves a lot to be desired. It's not just the long time pot habit but also the fact that even in a business full of egos, his is pretty big. This and his history of injuries due to those high risk moves may be a good reason why he never got a shot at the big belt before. And sadly, his recent actions seem to hint he may not be getting a run like that again.
RVD is not the first and as much as I'd like to say otherwise, he won't be the last professional wrestler to self-destruct just as things are going well for him. Often it's drugs but it's also a lot of ego that can lead to a wrestler or even promoter falling apart at a critical time. It's a sad fact for wrestling and one that probably won't go away anytime soon.
It's always bothered me that pro wrestler don't get as much respect as "real" athletes because of the fact their road schedule is so much more daunting. Football players do one three hour game a week. Basketballers have three or four a week. Baseball is close, almost every day but again, that's only for a few months a year. There's no off-season in wrestling so you've got guys on the road, performing over 300 days a year at times, constantly on the move, separated from families often and having to live with a lot of pain. That's one of the true advantages TNA offers, fewer dates and almost no road shows, something they really should push more if they want to acquire new talent.
It's often difficult for those without addictions to understand how easily people can fall into them. I personally don't have that much experience with drugs or alcohol since due to some bizarre genetic quirk I don't even like the taste of alcohol. However, and I hope you understand if I don't go into details, I have known some people who have struggled with such addictions. As such, I can say that addictions, whether it be drugs, drink or gambling can hook into a person far faster than you believe, especially when there's so much temptation. And when a man finds himself on the road for the vast majority of his year with plenty of drugs, drinks and women around, temptation is pretty hard to ignore.
Perhaps the closest parallel, and I know this is going to sound a bit off at first, is the world of modeling. Hear me out. Wrestlers have to appear to be in top shape, they have to give their all, they have to maintain their physique and looks to make their job work and are under constant pressure to keep all that up by bosses. And of course, unlike models, they have to actually be pretty physical to keep it all up. I'm not saying I condone what they do but I can understand how that temptation exists.
The list of wrestlers whose lives have been cut short due to long-term drug abuse is a long one. Just as long, sadly, are those who are still with us but are mere shadows of the once great superstars they were. Topping this list are Jake Roberts and Scott Hall. While one can argue about either man being main event material, there's no denying that at their height, they were both great workers with amazing charisma. Sadly, that wasn't enough for them.
The Jake DVD does show that Roberts had a troubled life to start with so it may not be too surprising he escaped into drugs and alcohol to hide it. It's sad to see how he slid back into those habits time and again, especially when he seemed so sincere about talking about his past during his run in WWF in 1996 (which ironically led to the birth of Austin 3:16). The problem with Jake, as Vince McMahon himself pointed out in the DVD, was that he was one of those addicts who could be totally drunk or high and yet appear to be completely sober. It's much harder to get help when no one around knows you need it.
Scott Hall, of course, didn't have that little gift. His drunken antics have become the stuff of legend not so much in WWF but in WCW. Indeed, he cause so much fuss on an international flight that the crew refused to spend another 14 hours with him on the way back and demanded he get on a different plane. He was constantly showing up at shows obviously intoxicated and his ring work suffered. That he was never fired is just another sign of how inept WCW was at that time. Marty Janetty actually holds a record for being fired no less than seven times from WWF/E, mostly for his drinking and drug abuse.
I don't want to turn this into a huge litany on workers with drug problems since that's way too long a list. However, there are some workers whose reliance on painkillers caused them more problems than more "hardcore" drugs could. At the tops of this list are the British Bulldogs, one of the greatest tag teams of all time. I really wish WWE would give them a decent DVD showcase so fans could see how amazing Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid were in the ring. They did moves that were truly great at the time with awesome chemistry with the fans. Of course, they were both hooked on steroids to try and beef themselves up as well as painkillers. Everything changed during a match in December of 1986 when he suffered a devastating injury that ruptured two discs in his spinal column.
I admire the Kid, I truly do but I honestly believed that he should have hung it all up after the injury. Yes, he had to be dragged back so the Bulldogs could drop the belts to the Hart Foundation but he made the choice to be back in action at Wrestlemania only months later, nowhere near the time he needed to recover, if he ever could. While one can admire the love he had for the business, in order to be functional he got hooked on so many painkillers that he failed to realize the damage in his body until it was too late. Sadly, today he's a mere shadow of his former shelf, stuck in a wheelchair with an amputated leg and with a rather embittered attitude about the business.
As for Davey Boy, he succeeded for a while as a singles star but his own steroid uses would come to haunt him. Indeed, he was fired from WWF in 1992 for giving the Ultimate Warrior (who we'll get to in a minute) information about where to get growth hormones. He'd return after a brief run in WCW but eventually return to WCW in 1998. It was during this run that the Warrior ended up hurting him again in a roundabout way: At Fall Brawl, Smith was backdropped onto a trapdoor that was to be used for a Warrior surprise entrance. The problem was first that no one told Smith the trap door was there and second, he ended up going through it, causing massive back damage that put him out of action for six months (during which WCW fired him). He went back to WWF for a brief run but was released in 2002 while undergoing drug rehab, only a few weeks before his death from a heart attack brought about by all his long-time abuse. While the steroids played a part in both Bulldogs' eventual fates, if either had tired to put their own health before the desire to wrestle, they might still be alive and well.
Drugs are not the only way a wrestler can self-destruct, however. Ego plays a huge part, especially in a business like this. Like in movies and TV, young men finding themselves becoming successful at such a young age can get swelled heads and that leads to their downfalls. A key example of this is Jim Hellwig aka the Ultimate Warrior.
To me, the reaction to the Warrior DVD is one of the biggest cases of mass hypocrisy I've ever seen on the IWC. For years, all I read about the Warrior were people running him down, calling him unprofessional, crap in the ring, incredibly full of himself and an outright certified lunatic. So WWE puts out a DVD that mirrors those thoughts and suddenly everyone's falling over themselves saying the Warrior doesn't deserve that treatment. You can't have it both ways, either the guy was an egotist or not. If you actually take the time to watch the DVD, you'll see that there are a lot of people who say positive stuff like Edge, Christian, Jericho, Ted DiBiase and even Hogan. Hell, Hogan and Bischoff take the blame for Halloween Havoc '98 being a total disaster. As Gene Okerlund says "You like him, you don't like him, he made an impact."
I don't know if I'd go so far as to say Hellwig is a lunatic. I do admit changing your name to "Warrior" is a bit weird but compared to, say, Tom Cruise, that's downright normal. The thing is, if you read Hellwig's comments at his website (and you should, they are something), you'll see that he does indeed have that massive ego. He talks about how no one in history is capable of getting pops like he does (discounting, oh, Austin, Rock, Flair, Undertaker to count a few) and also blasts those commentating as having no talent or charisma (Christian and Edge no charisma?) and goes overboard saying Bobby Heenan deserves his cancer-ridden fate which is really uncalled for. Yes, the Warrior was an incredible talent who had the whole WWF at his feet and it's possible he could have gone even further. But his ego always got in the way. I'm not just going by the DVD either. Read RD Reynolds's great Wrestlecrap and Death of WCW books and he'll detail how the Warrior demanded way too much money for such poor appearances and his equally odd appearances and comments today. I was actually a fan of the Warrior during his heyday but I recognize that his fall from the spotlight was due to his own ego and his belief he was a lot more viable and important than he truly was, a belief that still sticks around today and sadly means whatever his legacy may be, it's now tarnished.
It's not just wrestlers who can be driven to extremes by ego. Promoters are victims too, such as Bill Watts. In the mid-'80s, his Mid-South promotion was one of the best around with terrific action and top stars. Before WCW and WWF, Watts was using music videos to hype wrestlers and angles and it led to sellout crowds around his Oklahoma base. His UWF was really rising with stars like Shane Douglas and Sting and he might have gone further if the Oklahoma economy hadn't collapsed in 1987. Watts was forced to sell to Jim Crockett and instead of the cross-promotional deal Watts thought it would be, Crockett proceeded to completely bury the UWF and its workers.
So it must have been very triumphant for Watts to be brought in to run WCW in 1992. With his old-school mentality, many had hopes he'd turn the organization back to the top. Unfortunately, it took only weeks for people to come to the idea that Watts hadn't watched a single wrestling match in the last five years as he proceeded to set up rules that threw both fans and workers. He banned all moves from the top rope which killed the light heavyweight division. He removed mats from the floors and seemed to encourage a rougher, more "shoot" style of wrestling. A true believer in kayfabe, he prohibited faces and heels from being seen in public together, removed the catered meals backstage and ordered that no wrestler would be allowed to leave until the show was over. That meant that the opening bell guys would have to wait three hours backstage before they could go home, which did not make them happy.
Watt's mentality also extended to who got pushes. He made Ron Simmons the WCW champ and while Simmons was good, he didn't seem able to carry the whole company (putting him in title matches against the likes of the Barbarian hardly helped). Old Mid-South/UWF favorites Steve Williams and Terry Gordy were brought in and pushed to the moon, winning the tag titles as the Miracle-Violence Connection (Just what sort of a connection there is between a miracle and violence was never explained but you have to admit it's a damn cool name). Of course the bigger push would be to his son, Erik.
Personally, I've never bought into the camp that Erik Watts is one of the absolute worst workers in the history of the business. I do think he had some potential if he'd been allowed to develop it better. However, it's clear he was in no way ready for the big time so soon and asking more experienced stars to job the boss' son hardly helped the backstage mood. In fact, Rick Rude got into a big fight with Erik backstage that led to his being fired from the company. In his autobiography, Watts says that some people actually wanted Erik pushed even further and Watts was holding him back. Whether or not that's true, the stigma of his father's influence has stuck with Erik ever since, making him a popular whipping boy in the IWC.
Watts' stubbornness cost him as WCW fell further in bad finances and low attendance. The final straw was when a comment he'd once made surfaced, with Watts' saying that a business owner had the right to discriminate and "If I don't want to sell blacks fried chicken, I shouldn't have to, it's my restaurant." When Henry Aaron, a top member of the Turner company, read that, you can imagine his reaction. I don't think Watts is a racist (after all, he made the Junkyard Dog one of the biggest stars around) but that comment coupled with his "my way or the highway" approach that was dividing the locker room, led to his being fired. Sadly for the Cowboy, being a maverick just wasn't enough anymore.
Of course when you discuss people undone by egos, you have to mention Vince Russo. In Wrestlecrap, he's aptly summed up as "either one of the greatest geniuses or the most blatant con men the wrestling industry has ever seen." Most will go for the latter as Russo managed to convince the guys at WCW that he and he alone was responsible for the WWF's big turnaround in 1998 and '99. Now it's no doubt Russo did contribute hugely with his pushes for mid-card guys and focus on backstage happenings (and of course the extended sex and violence antics). But the idea that he was the main guy in WWF is pretty laughable today as we all know Vince and Vince alone has final say on what goes on. That's also ignoring the great talent he had to make all his stuff work like Austin, Rock, HHH and the rest. Hogan and Bret Hart, while leaving on bad terms with Vince, both knew him better than most anyone in WCW and couldn't buy Russo's version of Vince as completely out of it and needing Russo to take charge. Sadly, the people at the top didn't listen and hired Russo.
As we all pretty much know now, Russo broke the major commandment of a con man: He bought into his own con. As Reynolds aptly illustrates in his books, Russo seemed to consider wrestling almost unnecessary, piling on soap opera and sex and violence actions and "shocking swerves." He seemed to consider the whole thing like a movie, even the audience as just characters. I read an interview with James J Dillon, who claimed that before one show, Russo seriously wanted to know how much it would cost the bribe the fire marshal to look the other way while they set the arena on fire. Russo is deserving of an entire spotlight of his own so I'll just sum up that putting himself over the product not only wrecked his own career with WCW and gave him a stigma that sustains to this day but also helped bring about the end of the company.
I could go on but I'm pretty sure you all get the gist. RVD's situation is his own fault. He finally got his shot at the top but the combination of ego and his pot habit have led to his downfall. I'm not going to say he's finished, however, as there are some people who have managed to bounce back from self-destruction. The best example is Eddie Guerrero who hit as rock bottom as you can get but managed to become a bigger star than ever. Or Chris Candido who cleaned up his act from all addictions and was bouncing back when he suffered his sudden death. RVD can rebound and maybe get that belt back. But in order to do so, he has to realize that he is not "The Whole F'ning Show," that even the champ has rules he has to follow. If he can, he'll be in good shape and still have a good legacy. If he can't…then he joins a long and sad list that is likely to continue for some time.
Well, my column on HHH and Jarrett seems to have gotten comments not just in my mail bag but also in the forums with Larry Teneleda leading it off:
just finished reading Michael Weyer's article comparing Jeff Jarrett to Triple
H. He is totally WRONG on a lot of things:
"he does seem to be giving a rub to guys like Cena and even the Spirit Squad" -
Michael Weyer
Gimme a break, Triple H is using those guys as fodder. They are young guys who
have to do what their told. Triple h and shawn micheal controls their matches
with them and have used them as a joke.
"but Vince is quite clearly the boss and I doubt being his son-in-law gets
Hunter as much freedom as many think it does." - Michael Weyer
Maybe you should interview CM Punk. he will tell you how much power Triple H
has.
I support Jeff Jarrett. It's his company. If he wants to be champion in his own
company, he has every right to be.
"If anything, his need to be the center of attention is worse than ever and is
causing a great alienation in fans that can prove deadly to TNA." -Michael
Weyer.
I read a couple of weeks ago you said you watched slammiversary. So, Jeff
Jarret is "killing" tna but you still watched the TNA PPV with Jeff Jarrett? If
you don't like Jarrett's wrestling company...just don't watch
First off, TNA is not Jarrett's own company. He's only part owner and as such has a responsibility to give the fans what they want and what they want is him not hogging the spotlight so much. TNA owes a lot of its success to financial backers who may pull out if things start taking a downward turn which Jarrett is not helping to avoid. As for a couple other comments, Coren responded well to those on the forum:
Yeah, I'm sure they're using them as a joke when they're the only ones on the whole brand seen good enough to take on DX, and get to beat them down and have fantastic matches with them (Kenny v Michaels)
And here's an idea that just struck me..you can like things a company does without liking Jeff Jarrett, and can watch said company and still think Jarrett needs to have less screen time.
Pitfuo added this comment:
They said the same thing about the guys on the Mean Street Posse? None of those guys are there.
I am on Jarretts side on this one. It's his company. If he wants to be the champion in his own company...then he has every right to be. We (IWC) act as if WE were running a wrestling company that we would not put ourselves in the show. If I owned a wrestling promotion, I put myself on the program EVERYDAY!
Russo put himself on every day and we saw how well that turned out. I don't think I would put myself on, I'd try to leave it to guys who really knew what they were doing. I also mention RD Reynolds sells a DVD of his time as on-air booker of a small promotion that he himself says makes Russo look like a genius. Sometimes, what we want and what the mainstream fans want don't always match up.
JP Prag adds these comments:
My main problem with the article is that it is comparing apples and oranges. Triple H has already been champion and dominated a promotion, a promotion with decades of history and millions of dollars, for five years. Jarrett is trying to create a brand new organization. You cannot compare the two as if they started together on Day 1 and see where they went from there. I could see doing that with Sting and the Ultimate Warrior, but not these two.
Also, he kept saying that Triple H was the one who had "star" written on him and Jarrett did not. Quite the opposite! Go read In Defense of... Jeff Jarrett (Part 1 of 3). The then WWF traded four people to get Jarrett on their roster. And plenty of other legends of the past complemented Jarrett and said he was a future star well before it happened.
Besides, it does not matter how long you take to get to the main event, only that you get there. On top of that, let's not forget that Triple H was chummy with Vince well before he was close with Stephanie. It was that closeness that allowed him to continue DX, be a focal point of the Corporation, and to get the McMahon-Helmsely Era going.
Well anyway, Michael has given me a lot more material I need to weave into Parts 2 and 3 of this case. Thanks!
Been reading that "In Defense Of" and it's not too bad even if I do argue with some points. I have to say that Jarrett's star was high but mostly in the small territories near his home state. As for legends, I read Harley Race in an interview saying neither Jarrett nor his father had any business belonging in wrestling. I do think that when it comes to true "main event" status, not just the wrestling but the aura and the heat, HHH does have a lot more standing than Jarrett does. And maybe HHH was chummy with Vince but as I pointed out, a big reason Jarrett got over in '98 WWF and WCW was his friendship with Vince Russo.
Coren offered another good counterpoint to that on the forum:
Counterpoint: What the WWE does to secure a wrestler has little to do with their potential for greatness. Aside from the obvious signing wrestlers to keep them away from other promotions, the prime example of such is Mark Henry.
A good point, Coren. In some ways, it's like any other sport, you make what seems to be a terrific deal for a hot talent only to have them become a huge disappointment. I guess that's one reason TNA is going for past stars, there's some bankability in them. The drawback of course is that many of them are shades of what they once were (Like Steiner)
Onto my regular mailbox, John Reid gives another of his great analytical letters:
Great points as always. However, I see where there is one major difference in
TNA as compared to WWE as to why HHH can cede the spotlight and JJ must continue
to stay in it. In WWE Edge has grown to become the top heel in the federation,
making his battles with Cena over the WWE title a welcome change from the weeks
of HHH dominating. Also, the main angle on Raw seems to be DX vs. the McMahons,
meaning that while HHH may not be thinking about the title (yet) he is still in
the main event scene every week. How else can you explain RVD vs. Edge
Vengeance match being in the middle of a PPV for the World Title? I give HHH
credit for helping to allow others to grow into the title chase, but he is still
taking major camera time away from potential up and comers (though I must admit
I really enjoy those DX segments).
In TNA, this is not the case. The purpose of bringing in the WCW stars of
yesteryear (Nash, Sting, Steiner) was to help and up and coming federation build
credibility with mainstream appeal. Slowly but surely I believe that they are
in the process of transitioning into a true alternative to WWE. It's just that
for the time being their homegrown stars aren't ready to take that mantle just
yet. Monty Brown, AJ Styles, Abyss and Samoa Joe will eventually dominate the
main event scene but honestly the only reason Jarrett is still the top heel is
because they aren't in the position to carry the federation. Double J is really
the only true option they have as the hated heel (just witness what happened at
Slammiversary, ouch!) as opposed to the options they have in WWE, such as Edge
and Booker T on Smackdown. Although TNA has been around for 4 years, as far as
the casual fan is concerned, it debuted in October 2005, so the homegrown stars
have a way to go before establishing true main event status. Not so much in
terms of action, where they excel, but in angles which will draw fans in each
week to see what's going to happen next. That's where WWE runs circles around
TNA but I think they'll grow into that eventually as well.
The best thing for TNA now in order to move into the next phase of establishing
stars is if JJ loses the belt at Hard Justice in August to Samoa Joe. Joe is
obviously on the way to becoming their version of Batista as the monster that
fans love, and if TNA does the slow burn to the title the way WWE did with Big
Dave, then JJ will step back I believe. Of course my theory goes right out the
window if Jarrett does decide to become face and ends Joe's streak (ugh! can you
imagine what they'll throw in the ring if THAT happens?)
Giving Joe the belt is definitely a good move. However, I'd argue that Styles has been ready to take charge for a couple of years now. He actually reigned as NWA champ in 2003 and he's super over with the Impact Zone crowd, as is Christopher Daniels who I also think could be a top player. I admit to being an AJ mark but I truly think that giving him the top title could be a good thing. But Joe as the unstoppable champ would be great too but if TNA blows it, you're right, the fan reaction may be too much for them to take.
Tony shares his own thoughts:
I read your article on Hunter and Jarret... very good read. Although TNA is not yet at a peak where they influence the business, I'd like to share my opinion on HHH.
First of all.. even though most hate triple H, 20 years from now he will be remembered as one of the biggest heels in history.. So I don't blame him for taking the ball and running with it. I think his main goal is being remembered as one of the greats.
Second.. I think the DX thing is nothing more then $$ and it will be a great way for Triple H to pick up major heat assuming he turns on shawn (again). Flair has 16.. I don't see Hunter stopping until he at least reaches that record.
As for Jarret.. I still and doubtfully ever will see him as a headliner. He was a fun mid carder to watch in WWE & WCW but TNA needs to bring in someone knew who could be their Stone Cold or Goldberg and really put them on the map.
Just my 2 cents.
Good comments, Tony and I agree that HHH's Flair idolization will probably lead to him getting the title a couple more times before he's done. Like I said, people really love to hate him and he gets good heel heat as in people want to see him taken down. Jarrett gets the heat that the fans truly hate watching him and hate him dominating so much. I'm hoping TNA can make Joe sort of their home-grown superstar and help develop AJ and Daniels into big ones too. Getting their own superstar will be a big sign TNA is ready to step up to the plate.
Finally, John Bryant shares this last comment:
Now I'm not saying you have to do this but I'd just like to see it done. I for one am tired of hearing how much Bobby Lashley is like Brock Lesnar. sure their probably close to the same size as far as build but that's where the Comparison ends. see unlike Brock, Lashley can beat you so many different ways it's ridiculous. and when you look at Brock it was just in his last 6 months that he started trying different things like that Brock Lock which didn't make much sense for a man of his strength & power to use a submission move. another comparison I'd like to see you do would be, well this may not make much sense to you, but I'd love to see a comparison of Shelton Benjamin & Christopher Daniels. Think about it and maybe you'd see why People would love to see a match between these two
I'm sure some are laughing at the idea of comparing Bobby and Brock at all. I'd point out that when he was in OVW, Brock used a lot more technical and ariel moves but was forced to go more for power wrestling in WWE. Lashley has been like that a bit but has been improving since he came in. I remember a lot of people were surprised at how well he did in the MITB match at Wrestlemania and putting him with Booker has been giving him more of a rub. If he can just improve his mic work it'd help but I guess the big thing is that Brock had that whole intensity about him, convincing you he really could kill anyone put in the ring with him. Lashley gets that, he's gold.
And yeah, Shelton and Daniels would be a great matchup. In fact, Shelton's one guy I think could actually do well in TNA, especially X Division. Again, the difference is in the mic work and personas as Daniels has great charisma and comes off terrific while Shelton could use a bit more work. Maybe Williams should have put that in his Top 10 Dream Matches column.
All for this week, keep the mailbox filled up. And remember…
"You know all those security scenarios we ran? I'm smack in the middle of one we never thought of."
