Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification (34 page)

And I’m not taking about the Huckster and Nacho Man, childish and flat parodies of wcw that Vince designed and which fell short of the mark. This was: we’re on live tv, daring you to do something. What are you going to do?

All we wanted was to get wcw to acknowledge us — and they did.

There is no doubt that our attacks got under their skin. We made it clear to Eric Bischoff that we were coming, and we were coming hard. I later had the opportunity to ask Eric where he was the day dx drove a missile launcher to the back door of an arena where wcw was playing. Eric said, “I wasn’t there that day.” Right Eric — and you’re president of the Vince Russo Fan Club.

The tide was starting to turn, you could just feel it. If anything, the 241

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fan at home had to be saying, “Man, I don’t believe the spaldings on these guys.” People were starting to sit up and take notice. Meanwhile over in Turnerland, it was beginning to be same old, same old. The nwo angle was being hashed, rehashed and hashed again week after week. Suddenly everybody was joining the group. It was beginning to look like the Von Trapp family and they were starting to Do-Re-Mi, and everybody else, to sleep.

So now we’ve got two huge things happening at the same time. In one corner, the Texas Rattlesnake is quickly becoming a pop-culture icon, while in the other corner, dx was telling the American People to

“Suck it” . . . and they were loving it. The question loomed, “How do we marry these two franchises?”

Vince had the answer.

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Chapter 43

IRON MIKE

If Iron Mike Tyson had not bitten the ear of Evander Holyfield, I might be writing a much different story today. As bizarre as that incident was, nobody could have known the impact it was to have in the months and years to come for the World Wrestling Federation.

Due to his total violation of the rules, Mike Tyson’s ban from professional boxing left the boxing pay-per-view business in a hole. For years, Mike had been their drawing card — the only time they made significant money was when he stood between the ropes. Now they were screwed. No Tyson, no buys — no money. The boxing world just wasn’t the same. Say what you will about him, but people wanted their Iron Mike . . . any way they could get him.

Vince picked up on this immediately. The fact was, people paid money to see Mike Tyson on pay-per-view. He wasn’t allowed to box anymore, so they weren’t going to get their fix there. But if we could somehow, some way, get him involved in WrestleMania xiv — also 243

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on pay-per-view — would those same people pay to see Mike just for the sake of seeing Mike? It was a gamble, but Vince had a feeling. To be honest, I wasn’t sold on the deal. But I did understand one thing: Mike Tyson would bring the wwf mainstream exposure.

So Vince went to work and Mike Tyson was soon signed. The story was covered
everywhere
. Most reports were negative — but who cared? There’s no such thing as negative publicity in the wrestling business. If the outside world acknowledges us,
it’s all good!
They were talking about Mike Tyson and the wwf in the same breath. At the time that Tyson was talking to Vince, Mike was having contrac-tual problems with Don King. Knowing Vince, and with a few things I’d overheard, I think Vince was seriously considering managing Tyson’s boxing career. Again, I’m not going to state that as a fact, but rather as a strong opinion. Man, could you imagine that marriage?

So now we had Tyson, what were we going to do with him? Again, all the ideas were the same — that old ’70s wrestling !@#$%. “Tyson is a babyface in people’s eyes — so let’s buddy Mike up with Austin.

An Austin rub may even help Mike with those burying him over the Holyfield incident.” And again, I had to say something.

“Are you nuts? Forget Mike Tyson. Is this about what we can do for him or what he can do for us? Everybody is expecting what has just been laid out. Why don’t we have Tyson go toe-to-toe with Shawn Michaels? Paint the picture that they’re gonna go, then let Mike rip off his shirt to reveal a dx T-shirt underneath. Remember —
go the
other way!”

Vince bought it — and we did it. Nobody saw it coming, and now all of a sudden you had an issue between Steve Austin and Mike Tyson, perceived as perhaps the two toughest sob’s on the planet at the time. If you weren’t watching WrestleMania before, you were watching it now. The momentum was building up — we were coming and nobody could get in our way. The wwf machine was firing on all cylinders — the tide wasn’t just beginning to turn, we were a tidal wave.

Iron Mike Tyson provided just the punch we needed. Wrestle-244

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Mania xiv was a huge success. But let me also point out that
everybody
involved had a hand in our success. It was a period where everybody was at the top of their game. The entire locker room was working as a family, one unit, with the same purpose: to take back what was ours . . . that number one spot in the ratings.

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Chapter 44

THE SECRET WEAPON

So there we were. WrestleMania xiv was a smash hit; Austin/

McMahon was on fire; and dx was in while the nwo was moving out in a hurry. Everything was going right. We had all the ingredients we needed — except, perhaps, just a little pinch of
sex.

Now, I’m not going to go on another T & A rampage here, but the truth is, that’s what our core audience wanted. I know the only reason I watched the movie
O
for two and a half hours was in hopes of seeing Julia Stiles naked. (Which, I might add, I didn’t — so just pass on the freaking thing.)
Rock Star
would have been a hit instead of a bomb if only Jennifer Aniston had taken off her shirt for a few seconds. Sarah Michelle Gellar has a no-nudity clause in her contract —

I’ll save my eight bucks. I will go see Alyssa Milano in
anything
—

even something that goes straight to video, as long as it’s rated R and there’s even an outside chance of me seeing something . . .
anything!

Do I have a problem? Hell yeah, I’m a male! I’m the guy watching 246

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our show on Monday nights! I’ll take anything — Jules Asner in a tight shirt with no bra, or Jennifer Love Hewitt in a tight bra with no shirt —
give me anything!

We gave them something, all right . . . we gave them Sable.

• • •

I would just like to add that even though I am personally a huge fan of the boob and the butt, the bottom line is: it really doesn’t matter.

I’ve said this a thousand times, so I might as well say it a thousand-and-one — it was never about what Vince Russo wanted — or, for that matter, even about what Vince McMahon wanted. It was always about what
the fans
wanted.

That was the downfall of many a booker in the past. Before and after me, others seem to have a tendency to write what they like —

what they enjoy. Well guess what? It’s not about them — it never was and never will be. All that matters is what the fans want. During my days at the wwf, I used to go out into the crowd and just listen to the fans, to see what they were buying, see what they weren’t. That was my most valuable tool. From there I would study the ratings inside out — to see what they were tuning into and what they were tuning out. If it was getting over with the fans, we went with it. If they weren’t buying it, we canned it. It really wasn’t rocket science, kids —

as a matter of fact it was simple. But today you combine the “good ol’

boys” writing network with their politics — and in my opinion you have a product that is almost unwatchable.

Two short years later, and what made me tick and why I made the choices I made, have become crystal clear. All that talk about Julia Stiles and Sarah Michelle Gellar was just that — talk. An effort for me to seem cool, hip, to impress you. I was 41 years old at the time. You think I really cared about seeing Buffy in the buff? I didn’t — what was I trying to do was please you, please this world, to be accepted at any cost. And I pulled out all the stops — from sex, to violence, to drugs, to nudity, to homosexuality, to transvestites, to men beating women, to the killing of 247

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small household pets, to castration, to the unnatural love between a mother and her son, to demonic worship, to demonic sacrifices, to blasphemy, to the degrading of the cross.

If I thought you wanted it, I dished it up.

And that was my downfall. How was I glorifying God through that pot-pourri of smut? Is that why he put Vince Russo on this earth? That was my mistake — trying to please my fellow man. I wanted you to accept me and I wanted you to accept our product. That was my downfall in the eyes of God. Thus, the depression, the distant marriage, the darkness, the pain, the misery.

To make the situation more clear to you, let me show you a column Bob Ryder (now a friend) wrote for his website, 1wrestling.com:
RAW
is porn

December 22, 1998

Did any of you seriously think I wasn’t going to write about this?

I’m often asked to describe what it is about the wwf that prompts the criticism I throw their way. Last night’s edition of
raw
is porn sums it up. What possible wrestling-related reason was there for the Mark Henry skit?

For those who were lucky enough to miss this, Mark Henry, Terri Runnels and Jacquelyn were involved in the segment, which spanned most of the last half-hour of the program. After removing Henry’s clothing (except for his boxer shorts), the women lay him on a massage table, put a chain around his neck, oiled him down with coconut oil, covered him with whipped cream (which Terri licked off ), stuck a ball-gag in his mouth, tied his hands and feet to the table, whipped him and (according to off-screen play-by-play from Jerry Lawler) proceeded to use a vibrator, gerbils and hot wax on him. All of this with a backdrop of moaning and groaning throughout the segment.

The segment reached its “climax” when D-Lo Brown yelled that it was time for his match and Henry screamed out, “I’m coming, I’m coming!” After the match, a slimy Mark Henry appeared on the ramp to explain what happened to an angry D-Lo.

Was that segment really necessary?

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The wwf says that kids shouldn’t be watching in the last hour of the show anyway. They say that if kids are watching that it’s the parents’ responsibility, and not the WWF’s. They say they aren’t doing anything more than can be seen on
NYPD Blue.

How pathetic.

The wwf gets comprehensive breakdowns of their demographics on a weekly basis. They know who their audience is, and they know who is watching the show. They know that a huge portion of their audience is made up of children.

What kind of a sick, perverted person would program filth like the Mark Henry segment when they know children are watching?

With Steve Austin, the Undertaker and Jim Ross off the show, was that the only way they thought they could hold the audience?

As to the argument that worse things are seen on
NYPD Blue
, I challenge the wwf to submit the Mark Henry segment to the program departments of any major network to see if they would air it. ABC would never allow that to be on any of their programs . . . not even
NYPD Blue.

I’ll get hundreds of angry E-mail messages from children who loved the segment. These same kids would love an X-rated movie too, but they aren’t supposed to be able to see one.

Regardless of the spin the wwf puts on their “new direction,” it is what it is . . . and it’s not acceptable for children.

They know who their audience is . . . and they just don’t care.

That was a “typical” Vince Russo show.

Bob was right, and he was wrong. At the time, even though I was writing a show that wasn’t for kids . . . I knew that kids were watching. At the beginning, I ignored it simply because I was a man possessed. I was on a mission, looking to succeed by any means necessary. I was looking for acceptance, I was looking for your approval, I longed for reward.

That’s what “this world” will do to you. That’s what living in the flesh is all about — the higher the rating, the more frequent the pats on the back. Sure, the kids were being affected by this, but remember, even though I had a conscience, it was being derailed by the desires of the 249

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flesh: fame, fortune, notoriety and accolades.

When I became saved, the first thing I learned was that it’s not about pleasing anyone but God. That is my motivation now — to glorify his name, his kingdom. The flesh of this world doesn’t matter. Pleasing the flesh, feeding the flesh, will only lead to your downfall — as it did mine.

It’s not about us!
And, as long as we come first, this world will continue to be in the sad state that it’s in.

• • •

I’ve told this story a million times. One night while I was out in the arena during a live
Raw
show, Rena Mero came out to promote the new wwf cologne. Without saying a single word, Rena got the second biggest pop (positive crowd response) of the night — behind only Stone Cold Steve Austin. That week, I told Vince that we had to do something with her. She was already on fire, simply promoting wwf inflatable chairs. I laid out a plan which would bring the Ladies Title back to the wwf . . . with Rena eventually becoming the champion. I knew she didn’t know how to work (wrestle) — but I also knew that she was a workout fiend and could learn in a hurry. But the plan was to have her only wrestle occasionally — it was more important for her to carry the wwf banner, maybe getting us through doors that the guys couldn’t open. (
Cough-cough:
Howard Stern.) Vince told me to call Rena and pitch it. If she agreed, we’d go for it.