By David G. Firestone
I had a few racing stories that I wanted to discuss, but there were a couple of WWE stories that happened that I feel the need to discuss. Two dark skeletons from WWE’s past came back to haunt them. Interestingly, these two stories happened independent of one another, and have nothing to do with each other.
Let’s start with Hulk Hogan. On January 6, WWE Raw debuted on Netflix. To commemorate the occasion, the debut episode was over the top, with a lot of former WWE stars in attendance. Well, one such star was Hulk Hogan. Hogan and Jimmy Hart came out, and Hogan cut a promo about how great the fans are and how they made WWE what it is. Hogan was mercilessly booed for the entirety of the promo. Hogan also announced that his Real American Light Beer, which is actually somehow weaker than his in-ring work, is now part owned by WWE. It was also announced that Hogan will be part of Saturday Night’s Main Event on January 25th.
The booing of Hogan is yet another reason why nostalgia in wrestling is never a good idea. There are a few former wrestlers who are decent and good people, but they are a minority. Between drug use, sexual improprieties, crime, backstage politics, racism, and a plethora of other issues, we see these people for who they are. Modern wrestling is a different animal, since most modern promotions will not hesitate to eat their own. Look at the careers that came to an end after Speaking Out.
Which brings me to my second story. A few days later, it was announced that Vince McMahon and the Securities and Exchange Commission settled that a settlement had been reached. Specifically, McMahon will have to pay a $400,000 fine, and reimburse WWE $1.3 million, and McMahon will not have to admit or deny any wrong doing. There is also a “cease-and-desist from violating certain provisions” but not much was available in terms of what that meant.
Vince, for his part, wasn’t exactly remorseful, and posted the following on Twitter:
“The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be. As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading.
In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.”
It says a lot about the two personalities that made WWE what it is today are persona non grata in WWE today, in terms with the fans. The fact that Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon are seen for the evil people that they are says a lot. Hogan was the on-screen talent, Vince was the man behind the scenes moving things into place. Both of the two are reviled, both inside and out of the wrestling business. Both still have their fans, but neither will ever be at the level they once were.
Nostalgia in wrestling isn’t a good thing. For one thing, as has been just discussed, wrestling has to come to terms with the evils of yesteryear. Second, wrestling is a shell of what it once was. 30 years ago, 10 million people watched wrestling every week, and now WWE draws 1-2 million people, and AEW can’t average over 650,000 people on a good week.
This is not a new thing, since in 1999, Heroes of Wrestling took place at Casino Magic Bay St. Louis in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. According to Wikipedia:
“The event was meant to be the first in a series of pay-per-views that would feature popular wrestling stars from the 1980s and early 1990s, but plans for the franchise were abandoned following the event, which suffered from a poor buy rate and several controversies, including the calamitous main event where a completely intoxicated Jake Roberts teamed up with Yokozuna in a tag team match, only to lose to Jim Neidhart and King Kong Bundy.”
For those who have never seen Heroes of Wrestling, it’s available on YouTube. As a wrestling event, it was a disaster through and through. All of the talent was either too old to have a good match, or high on drugs, or both. The result was almost unwatchable. Even if you get nostalgic wrestlers who are good people, like Mick Foley for example, in this day in age, all they can do is cut a promo.
While there are other athletes who are scumbags, it’s never been as prevalent as it was in wrestling. While it got swept under the rug at the time, now it’s coming to light how bad these people were. These chickens have come home to roost. We all saw the reaction to Hogan, and I can promise there are more skeletons that will get dug up. I predict that there will be more things that come to light soon.
Next week, some racing news.
Sources cited:
https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/43358951/former-wwe-ceo-vince-mcmahon-sec-reach-deal-settlements
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