Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Wrestler 'really got to me': Piper, by Brian Elliott - SLAM! Wrestling -

If there is one feeling that you get when you read through SLAM! Wrestling's archives, it's that the wrestling business is full of incredible highs, but also torturous lows. For all the adulation, there's a hefty price pay, a price which was recently explored in the movie The Wrestler, which earned Mickey Rourke a Golden Globe award for Best Actor, though controversially, not the Oscar.

One man oft-mentioned by Rourke in interviews about the film, was "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Piper, of course, embodies the highs and lows of professional wrestling, and is a veteran in Hollywood too, with roles both big (They Live) and small. When he spoke to SLAM! Wrestling about the film, and about how it really was true to life for some wrestlers, it was clearly a highly emotional experience for him.

"As someone who has been in the business for a long time, I don't mind saying that the movie really got to me," Piper said. "I had the chance to speak to Mickey, and I told him, 'I don't know what kinda research you did, but you hit the nail right on the head.' What stood out to me as a wrestler was that at no time did that character ever get physical outside the ring. And that's very typical; most of us are pretty soft outside of the ring.

"But even moreso than that, the thing that probably grabbed me the hardest was the way it ended. All my brothers (wrestling peers) are dead, man. So, at the end, it caught me because it just went to black, and that's how it happens in our world. Look at Curt Hennig (who died in 2003 due to cocaine intoxication) -- he was the picture of health. And boom! Black. Not fade to black, just black. I've been to so many funerals."

A strong theme in the film is that wrestling's mortality rate amongst its high-profile performers is staggering in comparison to that of any other athletic endeavour. A study in the wake of the Benoit tragedy showed that 104 professional wrestlers under the age of 40 had died in the period 1997-2007. Forty of those were full-time professionals, who would were well-known to anyone who had followed the sport for even a short time.

"Thinking about the friends, the brothers I've lost, makes me feel lonesome. I lived with these guys, literally. I wonder why no-one on the outside catches on to what's happening? I guess it's because they don't care.

"Can you imagine what would happen if four Manchester United players died, all in separate instances?" Piper continued, using a European analogy as he prepared to visit the continent with his daughter. "Or if a soccer player killed himself, how much attention it would get? People would wonder what on earth is going on, and there'd be an investigation. But there's no investigation for these guys. When a professional wrestler dies, sure, they do an autopsy, but then they shuffle them on.

"In professional wrestling, we're always making contacts, finding a chemistry. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier had a chemistry. Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan had a chemistry. Roddy Piper and Ric Flair had a chemistry. That's the reason these people drew money together. But you can't put all those chemistries in one room, and then start killing every second one. When someone you were that close with dies, it's part of you that goes, too."

The high death rate among professional wrestlers is made all the more poignant by the fact that a large percentage of them are due to heart attacks, believed to be caused largely by the use of steroids, which not only enhance muscularity, but the body's internal organs, too. This practise is also alluded to in the film, as Rourke's character suffers a heart attack, but even though he has an emergency bypass operation, continues to wrestle and even uses recreational drugs. Piper has seen the damage that all kinds of drugs -- performance-enhancing, painkilling, and recreational -- have done to wrestling's performers, and notes that when he wrestled, such activities were close to a necessary evil.

"It's a little different for the wrestlers today, but the schedule I had to keep left you not knowing who you were," said the 54-year-old. "In 1991, I did an afternoon show in Manchester, England, and an evening show in the same building. Then, I got on a plane from Manchester to Heathrow, and Heathrow to Connecticut. I went in and did five hours of voiceovers for television. Then I got on a plane to Alaska, wrestled there, flew back as far as Seattle, and then I rented a car and drove 160 miles home. And that was all in one loop, without a break.

"It's tough to make that route without a shot of whiskey," he continued, using the drink as a nom de plume for other substances. "I can recall being in Pittsburgh and being dragged out of my bed at 11 a.m. to go and kick off 60 interviews for television, and only then could I go back to my bed. So imagine the time-zones; the stop-start, quick, let's go kinda life. It's very difficult do these things, and be on at the same time."

Perhaps of all the overall themes of the movie, the most poignant is that of the lead character, 20 years past his prime but still having had success while at the peak of his powers, cannot afford to pay his rent, even while working at a deli during the day, and wrestling on weekends. For in the real wrestling world of WWE, there is no pension plan for its performers, who are labelled as independent contractors; Piper's recent appearances on Monday Night Raw and expected Wrestlemania 25 gig are paid on a per night basis. For those full-time WWE employees, it is understood that bookings for other companies are out of the question despite their "independent" status. A recently-dismissed lawsuit by three former WWE wrestlers brought this matter into the spotlight, and has noted that while the office staff at the company are entitled to the benefits in later life, the wrestlers are not. In turn, this has led to oft-heard calls for a wrestler's union to finally become a reality.

"You know, wrestling today really just means the WWE, and they're the only ones that could afford to do something like this," Piper said with an air of sadness. "The WWE have done some wonderful things for wrestlers. But we can't keep on dying. The wrestlers give their hearts -- they give the best part of their lives. So as the success goes on, why aren't they being taken care of?

"My generation and the generation before me -- these guys today shouldn't have to go through what we went through. They've got masseurs and therapists now, whereas to save money on the road, we would've ordered old pizza if we could. So we've taken the pain. I just think, 'C'mon guys, if it's a billion-dollar business, which it is, give it (a union) to them.' But wrestlers are afraid for their jobs, so it's probably only going to be pressure from the public that makes it happen."

Be that all as it may -- the drugs, the schedule, and the losses -- Piper's energetic tones, which only change with these more sombre recollections related to the film -- show that if it could be true of anyone, Piper was born to be a professional wrestler. In fact, he believes the wrestling lifestyle may have had the opposite effect on him, than it did for others; whereas some crumbled in the face of wrestling's harsh realities, the business gave him something to cling to.

"Before I got into wrestling, I wasn't going anywhere with my life. I was 15 years old and living in a youth hostel. I was an amateur wrestling champion, a Golden Gloves boxing champion, and I [later] earned my black belt in judo from Gene LeBell, but I didn't know what I was gonna do with my life," Piper said, continuing the story that has become folklore. "Then, I was at a wrestling show at the Winnipeg Arena in Canada, and one guy didn't show up. So my amateur wrestling coach, who was a professional wrestling referee, said 'I can get you $25.' I didn't know anything about professional wrestling, but I went in there and had probably the shortest match in the history of that arena.

"After that, I kept wrestling for the money. I went from doing nothing, to working as much as I could. It was the only kind of economic entity that I could cling to at the time. There were no questions asked; all that the other wrestlers asked was that you gave 100%.

"They were last of the Gorgeous George-era guys, who were finishing as I started, and they were really bitter about the business. But to me, they were great Dads; if you ever needed to learn how to take care of a family, or any advice, you had 300 miles driving in a car to listen to them. Wrestling gave me a shot -- I had to get on the field at some time in my life. For that, I'm eternally grateful."

The end of The Wrestler leaves open for interpretation the fate of Randy "The Ram" Robinson, and if life imitates art, in a similar way the destiny of professional wrestling current combatants is as of yet unknown.

Fans can only hope that more of them find the rewarding life in wrestling that Roddy Piper did, and not the pitfalls that befell Davey Boy Smith, Hercules Hernandez, Curt Hennig et al.

Author's note: Following this interview, Roddy Piper asked that we send a shout-out to Freya Miller. (Credit: SLAM Wrestling).

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Friday, March 06, 2009

"Legends of WrestleMania" video game demo to be released this week, Details on legal process involved - Pro Wrestling Torch - 4th March 2009

THQ will release a playable demo of WWE's "Legends of WrestleMania" video game tomorrow ahead of the video game's official release later this month.

The video game's marketing has focused on the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match at WrestleMania III. That match and characters involved, including Bobby Heenan, will be playable in the preview demo.

The process of adding the "legend" characters to the video game started with THQ's creative department, then went through the legal department to obtain licenses for each wrestler.

"First off the process starts here with the Creative team (we basically ask for everybody) and then it gets passed of to our awesome legal team," THQ's Paul Edwards said in a recent WWE chat. "They actually take on most of the work."

Edwards says if an obvious legend is not included on the game, it's most-likely because they could not obtain legal rights to the character.

"Once legal has it they have to go out and secure all of the deals for the talent," Edwards said. "Sadly, they can't always get the talent we want, due to various reasons that our out of our control."

The special edition video game took about a year and half to develop. That included creating new entrance music for wrestlers who never had theme music when they were with WWE.

THQ simplified the gameplay to make it easy for anyone to pick up and play. They eliminated referees, used arenas from WrestleManias 1-15, and limited the game's availability on video game system.

"We didn't make a PS2 version of the game because we really wanted to focus all our effort on the next-gen systems to make the game as high quality as we possibly could," Edwards said. "Basically we didn't want to get too distracted trying to over do it." (Credit: Pro Wrestling Torch)

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The Wrestler - The New York Times

Review Summary

Everyone knows professional wrestling is fake. Everyone knows the same about movies. In both cases the eager spectators simultaneously admire the artifice and pretend it isn’t there, allowing themselves to believe that those people down in the ring or up on the screen are truly inflicting pain on one another. “The Wrestler,” Darren Aronofsky’s fourth feature (and winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival this year), cannily exploits this parallel and at the same time shows that, in both movies and wrestling, the line between reality and play-acting may be less clear than we assume. Shooting his battered hero mainly in trudging, hand-held tracking shots, Mr. Aronofsky, whose earlier movies include the brain-teasing “Pi” and the swooning, fantastical, unwatchable “Fountain,” here makes a convincing show of brute realism. The supermarkets, trailer parks, V.F.W. halls and run-down amphitheaters of New Jersey are convincingly drab, and the grain of the celluloid carries a sour and salty aura of weariness and defeat. But the story that emerges is disarmingly sweet, indeed at times downright saccharine — a familiar parable of squandered hopes and second chances. It’s a bit phony, perhaps, but to refuse to embrace the movie’s deep hokiness would be to cheat yourself of some of the profound pleasure it offers. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times (Credit: The New York Times)

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Former pro wrestler accused in nursing home death, by Steve Karnowski

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — During his glory days as a pro wrestler, Verne Gagne shared the spotlight with other burly men in trunks, guys with names like Killer Kowalski, Mad Dog Vachon, The Crusher and Baron Von Raschke.

But all of that seemed well in the past until just weeks ago, when authorities say Gagne, 82 and suffering from Alzheimer's disease, apparently body-slammed a 97-year-old fellow patient at the suburban nursing home where they both lived, causing the man's death.

Bloomington police are investigating, but not even the victim's widow wants to see the dementia-stricken Gagne prosecuted.

"It's been so hard on both families," said Greg Gagne, Gagne's son and a former wrestler himself.

Helmut Gutmann, a former cancer researcher who suffered from dementia himself, died Feb. 14, about three weeks after breaking his hip in the confrontation. Authorities ruled his death a homicide.

Police said there was no clear indication of what set Gagne off, and neither man could remember the incident afterward. Behavior and personality changes are common as Alzheimer's progresses, and victims of the mind-robbing disease can become agitated.

Like others with the disease, Gagne had all but lost his short-term memory, while his recollections of long-ago events were vivid. But whether he was suffering a flashback to his days in the ring, as some have speculated, is anybody's guess.

Police said they plan to forward the case to prosecutors by the end of the week for possible charges. Gagne, who has since turned 83, has been moved to another institution.

Joseph Daly, a former prosecutor who is now a professor at Hamline University Law School in St. Paul, said he doubts Gagne will be charged. State law prohibits prosecuting anyone who is too mentally deficient to understand the proceedings or offer a defense. Daly said that would appear to apply to Gagne.

"It's a tragedy for the man who was killed, it's a tragedy for the man's family, but it's equally a tragedy for the family of Verne Gagne," said Daly, who has warm memories of Gagne from his youth.

In the ring, Gagne (pronounced GAHN-yuh) drew on his background as a college wrestling champion in the 1940s, and typically finished off opponents with his trademark "sleeper hold" — a headlock that appeared to make the beaten man pass out.
Gutmann's widow, Betty Gutmann, said she was told by residents and staff members at the nursing home that Gagne picked her husband up and threw him to the ground. She said that they had had one scuffle before, when her husband had been shouting at other residents and Gagne put a chokehold on him. Gutmann wasn't hurt in that incident.

But Betty Gutmann is not blaming Gagne, saying he didn't know what he was doing.
She said most Alzheimer's victims are old and frail, and when they lash out, they don't usually cause much harm. The difference with Gagne is that "he was a professional athlete and was trained to do certain moves. This is what makes him much more dangerous than the ordinary person" with dementia.

Helmut Gutmann fled Nazi Germany in 1936, became a U.S. citizen and joined the Army, where he worked to try to develop an antidote for mustard gas, among other projects, according to his family. He spent 40 years as a cancer researcher at a veterans hospital in Minneapolis.

The company that runs the nursing home refused to comment, citing federal privacy laws.

Gagne was the founder and owner of the American Wrestling Association and wore its championship belt. In the 1960s and '70s, his "All-Star Wrestling" was a TV sensation. The show was a modest affair, taped before small audiences at various Minneapolis TV stations. But it was syndicated on up to 120 channels across the Midwest and as far away as San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Winnipeg, Canada.

He mostly stopped wrestling in 1981 but remained active in the business. He trained more than 140 wrestlers from the late 1950s up until 1990, including Blackjack Lanza, Larry "The Axe" Hennig, The Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter and Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who later became governor of Minnesota.

Times turned tough for Gagne in the early 1980s with the rise of the glitzier World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment), which went national on cable TV. Vince McMahon's WWF lured away the AWA's flashiest star at the time, Hulk Hogan, and other fan favorites, Greg Gagne recalled. The AWA, founded in 1960, folded in 1991.

In the 1990s, Hennepin County took Verne Gagne's 58 acres and home on Lake Minnetonka for a park, paying him only a fraction of what the family thought it was worth, Greg Gagne said. By the time that fight was over and the bills were paid, he said, his parents had little money left.

Another blow came three years ago when Gagne was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the Mayo Clinic, his son said.

"His short-term memory is not there," Greg Gagne said. "But we were up there the other day, and if you talk about his first-grade teacher he can discuss that." He said his father also reminisces about his days as a wrestler and football player at the University of Minnesota.

Daly, the law professor, counts himself among the many saddened by what happened at the nursing home. He fondly recalled a day when he was a teenager working at a local drug store and Gagne came in and struck up a conversation.

"Here he was, talking to a teenager about wrestling, about sports, about life," Daly said. "I remember thinking, `Wow, what a nice person.'"

On the Net:

Gagne Wrestling Association: http://www.gagnewrestlingacademy.com

Media Man Australia Profiles

Wrestling

Rowdy Roddy's Promo 'Pure Piper', by Mike Mooneyham - 22nd February 2009

There used to be a saying in the wrestling business that a true star could always "talk people into the building."

You didn't necessarily have to have the skill set of a Lou Thesz or the showmanship of a Gorgeous George (although those qualities certainly didn't hurt). But you did have to possess the ability to connect emotionally with your audience and give them a reason to part with their hard-earned cash.

That's exactly what Roddy Piper did last week on Raw when the battled-scarred veteran delivered one of the most impassioned promos to hit the wrestling airwaves in a long time. This wasn't one of Rowdy Roddy's rambling, sometimes incoherent interviews of recent years. This was vintage Piper, long regarded as one of the best stick men in the business, making Chris Jericho a bigger heel with every word that came out of his mouth.

At age 54, Piper didn't need to put himself over or try to steal any thunder from Jericho, who has become one of the most effective heels in the wrestling business over the past year. His interview put the spotlight squarely on Jericho and his Wrestlemania-bound program with actor Mickey Rourke.

It's the kind of stuff that draws fans into the storyline and, more importantly, gives them a reason to care about what happens in the ring. It's also what made Piper such a valuable commodity in the business for more than a quarter of a century.

"It was one of Piper's very best promos in his newer, kinder persona the past decade," said wrestling historian and photographer Mike Lano. "Very passionate, and more shoot than work in terms of everything he said about needing to respect both the business itself and the legends like himself who paved the way for a Chris Jericho to portray his current, cocky, know-it-all self. Piper gave a very heartfelt, unique promo on Raw that we've not heard from him before."

Lano, who has known Piper since his early ring days in Los Angeles during the mid-'70s, says the promo was pure Piper.

"That was as pure Rodney Toombs as it gets ... the truth that some actually need to hear (certainly not the real Chris Irvine) in the biz - delivered with magic and eloquence by the great orator himself."

Piper, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in late 2006, now only infrequently appears on shows in the well-deserved role of "legend." But he proved last week that he can still work the magic and make people believe just like he did during the glory days of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling and countless other territories throughout the country, as well as the World Wrestling Federation's national expansion in the mid-'80s.

- Give credit to WWE for a marked improvement in character and storyline development in recent months. One puzzling aspect, however, is how they have struggled with an otherwise can't-miss angle with Randy Orton. He's the hottest heel in the business in spite of having Shane McMahon, a 39-year-old non-wrestler, pounding him from pillar to post on recent shows, including No Way Out and the following night on Raw. Orton didn't lose either match, but he needed help from Legacy cohorts Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes. That's no way to portray your top moneymaking heel.

And I'm still trying to figure out why the company recently explained Orton's rash of violent behavior by declaring the self-proclaimed "Legend Killer" had the behavioral disorder IED (intermittent explosive disorder). It's also interesting to note that a number of medical sources link the disorder to steroids as IED can be exacerbated by steroid use based on chemical changes in the individual's brain. Orton, not surprisingly, has ties to past steroid use.

Orton, nevertheless, has earned his way to the top of the WWE food chain. He very well could be the most compelling character in the company, and his in-ring ability improves each week. Hopefully the creative team won't make the same mistake twice by turning him babyface. At least not anytime soon.

- WWE officials are ecstatic over Raw's 4.1 rating for Monday night's show where nearly six million viewers tuned in. The number was the highest since December 2007.

- Steve Austin, who will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April, was being considered for a main-event match at Wrestlemania, most likely against Orton, but that possibility now seems remote in light of last weekend's title changes at No Way Out.

Now officially on "the road to Wrestlemania," the top bouts appear to be Orton vs. Triple H, with the current WWE world champ defending the title and the honor of the McMahon family (wife Stephanie, brother-in-law Shane and father-in-law Vince); John Cena vs. Edge for the WWE heavyweight title; and "Mr. Wrestlemania" Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker with Taker's Mania streak on the line.

Mickey Rourke, who appears to be the sentimental favorite going into tonight's Academy Awards show, is scheduled to be this year's guest celebrity in an angle with Chris Jericho.

Hulk Hogan said Friday on the Bubba The Love Sponge show that it was unlikely he would appear at Wrestlemania 25. The Hulkster said a recent conversation with Vince McMahon failed to produce a mutually acceptable scenario.

Rumors of a possible Hogan vs. Chris Jericho or Hogan vs. John Cena match had been floated in recent weeks. The 55-year-old Hogan has tried to drum up support for a Wrestlemania appearance the past three years without results. Hogan could conceivably be brought in for this year's 25th anniversary show if Rourke decides not to step into the ring.

- Comments continue to come in from the wrestling community regarding "The Wrestler."

Charlie Thesz, widow of legendary six-time NWA world champion Lou Thesz, was among those disappointed with the movie.

"I respect the independent film industry and working within a budget, but more research would have been a good investment," she said last week. "I didn't consider it a statement on the lower end of professional wrestling, as much as on the lower end of humanity. However, if wrestling was the chosen venue, why not have the professionalism in the film industry to honestly represent the wrestling industry? I am not denying the seediness of pro wrestling at its lowest level. I guess it is how my doctor friends feel about medical shows ... we are a little too smart for our own enjoyment."

Thomas Simpson, a professor at the University of South Carolina-Union and a College of Charleston alumnus who helped found the North Carolina-based OMEGA wrestling promotion, credits Rourke with a wonderful performance and thought "The Wrestler" was "an extremely well-made film."

"However, it is as realistic as Aranofski's 'Pi,'" added Simpson, referring to a 1998 psychological thriller directed by "The Wrestler" filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. "Early in the film, when the caricature promoter stiffs Randy 'The Ram' and he just sits there and takes it, that's a fantasy. If you want to see a 'legend' or a 'name' get angry, short their pay. I've been witness to some ugly incidents over the years (none due to my own actions). I found it hard to believe Randy was sleeping in his van. Someone like him would have a mark around who would put him up. Showing him on the gas was also a joke; indy guys his age don't have the means to do it. That movie is just pure melodramatic hooey."

- The proposed sitcom starring TNA star Mick Foley has been derailed, and producer Richard O'Sullivan is none too happy.

The South Carolina-born writer, producer and director is fuming over the fact that Foley backed out of the "Have A Nice Day" project. The comedy was built around Foley's true-life personality. He was to have played himself - a former pro wrestler and best-selling author who was pursuing an acting career. Producers had hoped to roll by this spring.

O'Sullivan says Foley had helped initiate the Lost Colony Entertainment project in 2008 with longtime friend Gail Bleckman of New York-based Amdram Productions. O'Sullivan came aboard as a writer and producer shortly thereafter and scripted the show's pilot episode.

"Mick has said over and over that he was disappointed with the whole show-pitching process because he had shows rejected so many times. And I related to that, and empathized with him. But what I can't relate to is his passive-aggressive BS attitude.

"If Jim Belushi wants a show, his agent or his production company set up meetings, they go in to talk to packagers, get other name talent attached, talk to financiers, then they go sit down with networks and they push to get a show. Mick didn't want to do that. He wanted something hand-delivered to him like (agent) Barry Bloom hand-delivers him his wrestling contracts."

O'Sullivan says that's not how the non-wrestling show-biz world works.

"Nobody hand-delivers anything to anybody in TV or film. Marshall Herskovitz is the president of the Producers Guild of America, and he had to launch a show on the Internet because he couldn't get network distribution. Martin Scorsese has had trouble getting projects launched. Robert Rodriquez has had major projects yanked out from under him at big studios. (Steven) Spielberg has even had to battle tooth-and-nail to wrestle Dreamworks back and get it positioned with the right deal.

"But guys like that keep going. They keep busting their (behinds). They never sit back and say 'Barry, bring me this.' Mick, though, has grown accustomed to having deals brought to him by Barry Bloom on a silver platter. And for the past 15 years, he's had two companies waiting in the wings to vie for his services. He bounced from WCW to WWE then to TNA. He always had that deal waiting for him like the morning paper and yeah, good for him, he broke his body for two decades in wrestling and he deserves to have those deals ... in wrestling. But what he doesn't deserve is the right to (take advantage of) other people on a whim."

O'Sullivan says Foley cited time constraints, specifically his TNA wrestling schedule and family commitments, as reasons for backing out of the project. He also questions whether Foley was really committed.

Foley himself expressed some reservation about the project during an interview several months ago. "You have to sell these concepts to the networks," Foley said in October. "Best I can tell that hasn't happened. I might be so tied up with TNA that I might not have time to make a decent attempt at network television."

O'Sullivan says the sitcom would have given both Foley and TNA major exposure.

"I'm terribly sorry that Hollywood isn't just sitting there waiting for Mick Foley to climb out of the ring and hobble over for a big guaranteed check and a start date. His name means very little outside of wrestling. It did 10 years ago but those days are long gone. His name meant a little when he was WWE and it means a little at Spike, but that network isn't throwing money into production."

O'Sullivan says one thing the show had going for it was "the Mickey Rourke buzz" as a result of the commercial success of "The Wrestler."

"It had a shot of being sold because studios and networks are taking a look at wrestling-related content now. But even that has a shelf life. The window isn't going to stay open for long. Hollywood-at-large isn't 'the Barry Bloom vacuum.' It's a whole other animal. And if he wanted it, he would've worked for it. And if he didn't want it, he had no right to string along a bunch of other people, then yank the carpet out from under them."

O'Sullivan says it wasn't the first time Foley had backed out of a similar project. The wrestler, he notes, last year returned to WWE without informing his partners in the sitcom and didn't call anyone until four days after he appeared on WWE television. O'Sullivan says he blew it off at the time as just being "wrestling."

"They don't play by the same rules as the rest of society."

Several months later, says O'Sullivan, Foley approached another one of the show's producers and indicated that he was unhappy with the WWE work environment and was interested in coming back to the sitcom. O'Sullivan says at the time they were talking to several "name actors" about replacing Foley on the show.

"After scribes and producers had worked for close to a year on the show - writing and rewriting scripts, crisscrossing the country to attach talent (including, at Foley's personal request, former porn star Christy Canyon), and setting up pitches at various television outlets - Foley suddenly backed out of the project again, citing time constraints."

Although O'Sullivan now says his team "has other fish to fry," he's having a hard time accepting what happened.

"What he did to the team working on his show was far worse than what Vince McMahon did to him. Vince McMahon gave him a platform to perform on and paid him handsomely to do it. The folks working on Mick's project were working on spec, based solely on his involvement and participation and he couldn't be bothered to either honor his word or break it off before they got in too deep."

"I was a Mick Foley fan going back to his 'Cactus Jack Manson' days in the late 80's," says O'Sullivan. "I'll never disparage him for his hard work and dedication in wrestling. And deep down, he's probably not a horrible person. But he handled this situation very badly, was utterly selfish and disrespectful to people who were busting their (behinds) for him, and I don't have much respect for him at this point."

- The always-controversial Jesse "The Body" Ventura has taken on Major League Baseball and commissioner Bud Selig.

Noting that there's little difference between WWE owner Vince McMahon, who was accused and later found not guilty of distributing steroids to wrestlers during the early '90s, and Selig, who has overseen the increasing use of steroids in baseball, Ventura called for equally harsh criticism of Selig.

"In the early '90s, the federal government came into pro wrestling and tried to put Vince McMahon in prison for steroid use of wrestlers," the former pro wrestler and Minnesota governor recently told NBC's affiliate in Denver. "My question is: They've now determined 104 baseball players failed their steroid test in 2003 - 104. They indicted Vince McMahon; why aren't they indicting Bud Selig? He's the head of baseball ... it happened on his watch."

The baseball controversy recently hit fever pitch when Alex Rodriguez admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs for three years between 2001-03. Rodriguez was one of 104 players that tested positive in a 2003 test that was supposed to be anonymous and merely for informational purposes.

"What you have here is two sets of law enforcement," Ventura told the TV station. "One set: 'Oh, pro wrestling, let's go after the head of that and put him in prison for steroid use.' And pro wrestling is not even an athletic competition. We went to court and said we're sports entertainment. Here, you have a legitimate athletic competition with 104 guys using illegal drugs - cheating - and where's the indictment of Bud Selig on this?"

"They indicted Vince McMahon. He had to beat it with his own lawyers or go to prison," Ventura said. "How come Selig isn't being treated the same way?"

Ventura, who admitted in the '90s that he used steroids while he was a pro wrestler in the '80s, said he doubts that Selig and the other MLB owners were ignorant of the apparently rampant steroid use.

"You can't tell me for one minute that Bud Selig and the owners didn't know," said Ventura. "They were profiting from it. Baseball was dead in the water until the big home run race between (Mark) McGwire and Sosa - Sammy - and that rejuvenated baseball, made all the profits so Bud Selig could make $17 million a year."

- Condolences to Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk on the loss of their mother, Dorothy Funk Culver, 89, who recently passed away in Amarillo, Texas.

- D.H. Smith (Harry Smith), son of Diana Hart and the late British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith), and T.J. Wilson, who the elder Smith trained, are expected to join Randy Orton's Legacy group. Wilson, going by the name of Tyson Kidd, made his WWE television debut on a recent edition of ECW on Sci-Fi and was managed by real-life girlfriend and fellow Calgary native Natalya (Nattie Neidhart).

Wilson was adopted into the Hart family at the age of 10 after befriending Teddy Hart. He also lived with Harry Smith for several years. He has dated Neidhart since 2001, and the two have lived together for more than five years.

WWE released the talented Scotty Goldman (former Ring of Honor star Colt Cabana) last week in somewhat of a surprise move.

- Robert Roode has signed a five-year contract extension with TNA.

"If TNA didn't step up to the plate, I would have tried a little bit harder (with WWE)," Roode told the Petersborough Examiner in his hometown in Ontario, Canada. "I have an agent working for me as well. It was one of those things where my heart wanted to stay here. And TNA wanted me to stay there too. So they stepped up to the plate and gave me a really nice offer."

- Last week's TNA Impact show set a company record with a 1.3 rating and nearly 1.9 million viewers. The show featured an "empty arena" match between Sting and Kurt Angle. The previous record was 1.8 million viewers on Jan. 15.

- Jim Cornette's much-anticipated book on The Midnight Express is expected to be out in April.

- From the "my how time flies" department: 16-time world champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair celebrates his 60th birthday on Wednesday.

- Chris "The Masterpiece" Masters and Lodi will appear at an Old School Championship Wrestling show at 6 p.m. March 1 at Weekend's Pub, 428 Red Bank Road, Goose Creek. Former WCW performer Lodi also will defend his Universal title against Johnny Blaze.

Adult admission is $8; kids 12 and under $5. For more information, visit www.oscwonline.com or call 743-4800. (Credit: Mike Mooneyham)

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