Analysing the "Sleaze Thread" a decade later...

[Guest]

From her wiki:

"St. Claire is known for her appearance in World's Biggest Gang Bang 2, a 1996 sequel

Cool. One question though...

 

to World's Biggest Gang Bang"

Oh right, never mind.

[Jazzy G]

The one about Tammy Sytch phone sexing with indy guys sounds like something of an understatement. This is a woman who all couple of years ago would do appearances at conventions where for the right price she'd take a photo in lingerie spooning with the fans in a bed. I hear she also offers more than Q&A sessions over Skype nowadays.

 

I always thought the story about JBL abusing a newbie in the shower was about former referee Billy Silverman, who left WWE for WCW following the incident. I could be wrong, though.

 

Number 159: I remember Shieky being in Crockett Promotions briefly as I recall seeing him him one morning on Sky Sports on a repeated episode of NWA World Championship Wrestling alongside such luminaries as Arachnaman and, bizarrely, Owen Hart, but I always thought during the time Vader broke Joe Thurman's back in that squash on Worldwide Shieky was being Colonel Mustafa in the WWF.

 

The one about Lawler paying the boys with food stamps must be where TNA got their business model from.

 

The thing about Ron & Don shaving Dutch Mantel's back is going to give me nightmares for day to come.

 

The Jarrett Chyna strap-on thing makes me wonder why he didn't just go to Stephanie. Maybe she only pegged main eventers.

 

Sorry, numerous edits due to my phone's auto correct not being smartened up.

[Jon-Carr_92]

24. Jimmy Snuka killed his girlfriend and played the innocent savage in front of the police while Vince did the talking for him.

He got charged recently. Though didn't get diagnosed with dementia or something like that and they're still trying to conclude if he's fit to stand trial or not? I know he got stomach cancer as well. Yikes.

 

42. Mae Young & Fabulous Moolah are a lesbian couple.

That's going to replace the whale in Captain McCallister's nightmares. They're buried in what is a family plot designed for them with a space for dwarf wrestler Katie Glass who also lived with them. Though it's one thing Moolah had the allegations that she was a pimp. And there's been a few who've come forward.

[Liam O'Rourke]

I want to thank everybody for the contributions, we got to read many of them on the show, which is now available at the following link:

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/nds8ee/SCG_Radio_98_-_Wrestling_Urban_Legends_and_The_Sleaze_Thread.mp3

Join us as we discuss Wrestling Urban Legends and The Sleaze Thread! Running through the highlights of the notorious "Sleaze Thread" a decade after it's creation, we discuss your favourites and debate the validity of some ridiculous tales - did Jimmy Valiant lie beneath the glass ceiling? Did Randy Savage really do the dirty with Stephanie McMahon? And what of these questionable antics by people in power? Tammy Sytch, the Von Erichs and "Ernie" are prominently featured. An entertaining show, check out the seedy underbelly of pro wrestling...allegedly!
 

[Kaz Hayashi]

Don't know how, but I missed the thread. Bollocks, however, my walk to work should be a belter.

[Cod Eye]

That was a really fun and entertaining listen! Thank You...

[wandshogun09]

Number 159: I remember Shieky being in Crockett Promotions briefly as I recall seeing him him one morning on Sky Sports on a repeated episode of NWA World Championship Wrestling alongside such luminaries as Arachnaman and, bizarrely, Owen Hart, but I always thought during the time Vader broke Joe Thurman's back in that squash on Worldwide Shieky was being Colonel Mustafa in the WWF.

Your timeline's a bit off. The Vader/Thurman thing wasn't until 92. Sheik was in WCW/NWA around 1989/1990. I remember seeing him job to Sting around then anyway. Cornette said in one of his million shoot interviews that Sheik was brought in to do jobs on TV and he was so bad by that point that he couldn't even do jobs well and Jim Herd ended up paying him to sit home. Then by 1991 he was back in the WWF fucking about in the curly boots as Colonel Mustafa.

 

Sheik's WCW run was worth it though, just for this story...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=zA0a5Uk5L5E

 

"Agh, big man, stop get the Heineken."

[dopper]

I always thought the story about JBL abusing a newbie in the shower was about former referee Billy Silverman, who left WWE for WCW following the incident. I could be wrong, though.

 

I remember Silverman having problems with some people in the locker room when he started upgrading his plane tickets to first class shortly after starting with the WWF.

Kurt Angle as WWF Champion and legitimate main eventer didn't even fly first class in 2001 as he realised his inexperience (with just over a year on the roster) meant he hadn't earned that privilege. So you can see why some wrestlers might think this new referee was taking the piss a bit.

 

I googled for more information and found this PWTorch article about Billy Silverman's short WWF run:

 

 

The ribbing in the WWF had declined greatly during the hot run the WWF had. When the WCW wrestlers (and referees) were thrown into the mix, there was understandably resentment on the part of WWF wrestlers. A bunch of wrestlers and referees from a company that lost tens of millions of dollars the previous two years were now marching into the WWF, on the verge of profiting from the hard work of the WWF wrestlers. WWF wrestlers wanted to make sure that the WCW crew realized one reason the WWF succceeded where WCW failed was that they had certain rules in the locker room. They were enforced for a reason, in great part to prevent prima donnas from playing by a different set of rules.

For a while, the WCW workers couldn't win. If they didn't talk, they were called aloof. If they talked too much, they were told to shut up and know their place. It was a difficult time, but it wasn't out of line.

 

WCW was an undisciplined place with a notoriously poor work ethic among the top wrestlers. Silverman lost me when he praised Buff Bagwell during his interview. Bagwell epitomized so much of what caused WCW to be such a burden on TBS that it eventually was sold in a fire sale to the WWF. Bagwell's prima donna attitude and poor work ethic contributed to the death of WCW. He wasn't the only cancer in WCW, but by most accounts he was among the worst five. 

 

Bagwell made a bad impression upon arriving in the WWF. He was used to coming and going as he pleased in WCW. As documented in a publicized court case, he was verbally abusive to "lowly workers" at arenas during WCW events. WWF wrestlers knew of his rep for treating people "beneath him" poorly, and Bagwell did nothing to show them that the rep he had or the publicity he received was unfair. As a result, he paid for it. Did wrestlers take it too far when they laid the stomps in pretty stiffly in that backstage gang attack angle angle on TV? Perhaps, but he didn't walk away with any broken bones. They sent him a message, and other than Silverman's statement on the radio Sunday, I've never heard of even one person ever even begin to defend Bagwell.

 

Silverman got in trouble because he was upgrading his tickets to first class. He was new in the WWF. Kurt Angle, even while he was working main events, knew that it would be wrong to upgrade to first class until he had some tenure in the WWF. He respected the internal etiquette of the locker room. It took him a long time before he felt he had earned the right to upgrade to first class.

 

Silverman may not have known when he first arrived in the WWF, but once he was told, he should have apologized and acquiesced. Instead, he was apparently aloof about it, shrugging off the warnings that upgrading was looked down upon until you've earned tenure. Because of his attitude, he made himself a target.

 

Silverman didn't detail this in his interview on Sunday, but as a result of his actions and attitude, he was taken to court - Wrestlers Court, that is. The WWF has a way of dealing with problems internally without bothering management. It's called Wrestlers Court. It's not something wrestlers like to talk about much because as open as the industry has become, that's considered their private, internal method of dealing with locker room problems before they reach management. It doesn't happen very often, and when it does, it's usually kept quiet (although we've detailed a few situations over the years in the Torch Newsletter). Being taken to court is reserved for the biggest offenders of locker room etiquette. Silverman was taken to court.

 

As detailed in the Torch Newsletter reports months ago, the court includes wrestler-lawyers, a wrestler-judge, and wrestler-witnesses called up to the stand to testify. (Given what he said in the interview, it sounds as if Silverman wasn't pleased with our stories detailing his "court" appearance.) After various people testified to his infractions, he was ruled guilty. His punishment was having to buy liquor and serve it to wrestlers on a plane ride. He wasn't made to do that as a rib. He was ordered to do it as a result of being found guilty of violating the internal rules that the WWF has established over the years.

 

Charles Robinson, another WCW referee, underwent ribbing that included being dragged out - without a shirt and taped up and gagged - into the TV area. Since he took it well and didn't complain afterward, he has earned wrestlers' respect. He no longer gets ribbed. He paid the price, and now he's "one of the boys," so to speak.

 

Silverman was found guilty in Wrestlers Court. His court sentence was serving liquor. Once he served that sentence, he too might have been given a second chance. But the verbal ribbing from Bradshaw apparently drove him over the edge, and he left.

 

As one WWF veteran told the Torch at the time, Silverman might not have ever been able to fit in since he didn't seem to grasp the logic of not being able to fly first class next to veteran wrestlers for a while, while the rest of the crew flew coach.

[The Dart]

That's such unwritten wrestler rules nonsense.  Why shouldn't someone upgrade out of their own money if they want to?

[Statto]

The objection, I think, is the implication of having ideas above your station. If there's a whole bunch of the crew on one flight, the plane becomes a physical representation of the hierarchy that naturally exists in any large group.

 

Silverman was spending his own money, sure, but whether he intended to or not, it meant he was physically placing himself at the top of the hierarchy with the Takers & Austins of the group. When you're a) a referee, & b) new to the company, you could see how that would piss some people off.

[The Dart]

It's still ridiculous, whatever the reasoning is.

[Snitsky's back acne]

 

I always thought the story about JBL abusing a newbie in the shower was about former referee Billy Silverman, who left WWE for WCW following the incident. I could be wrong, though.

 

In Raven and The Honky Tonk Man's shoot they are given the list of sleaze and allude to the guy being Brian Christopher.

 

They also confirmed it wasnt the Kliq that shit in Lawler's crown (Nash wasnt in WWE at the time of the 1993 Royal Rumble).

They did say that the guy who did it is 'now an agent there, I think', meaning the only two culprits (who were agents when it was recorded) are IRS and Steve Keirn, Considering Keirn worked for Lawler, I am assuming it was him.

Honky did mention something about being a receipt for the 'shitty payoffs' in Memphis.