Posted May 25, 200520 yr comment_2266123 This is a debate on another message board and I wanted to know what the real answer was. What was the WWF's reason for taking the title off of him in 90? I had always heard it was because his drug use was getting out of control and they were increasingly worried about him killing himself.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2266234 Precisely. They released him soon after because they were afraid he'd die on the company's watch. Wrestling is really classy.
May 25, 200520 yr Author comment_2266288 Yeah. I find a lot of the smark posters funny that try to gloss over and deny how scummy the business is.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2266352 It's pretty similar to the way they released Rhyno after he said he lost his will to live. Now granted, breaking the flowerpot shouldn't have gone unpunished, and he should have been reprimanded, but I don't like the tone to it, because you're left with a company choosing to get rid of someone pre-emptively when they could have just as easily suspended him without pay for 90 days and required him to get psychiatric counseling. It's mind-boggling to me that there's no resident psychiatrist on hand for WWE, considering the schedule and wear and tear the wrestlers go through.
May 25, 200520 yr Author comment_2266385 I found that more annoying because they continually bring back a two time wife/girlfriend beater in Austin (they even had him beating up women on air after his first conviction). But a guy breaks a flower pot in a hotel and he's fired? And they have no problem with someone like Snuka being a Hall of Famer either.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2266412 Whats sad is they were pretty much right, since he did end up killing himself right after. At least WWE is consistent, they'd rather avoid bad PR than help a guy.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2266816 Whats sad is they were pretty much right, since he did end up killing himself right after. At least WWE is consistent, they'd rather avoid bad PR than help a guy. That's a little unfair. Vince, to his credit has put a number of guys through rehab. Eddy, Regal, Waltman, Road Dogg, etc... And has given every one of them multiple chances. Some who have refused have been released like Jeff Hardy. I don't think there was really much that could have been done with Von Erich. They probably never should have hired him. I'm sure that his drug abuse and the family history of suicide was known to Vince prior to the signing. I'm not at all saying that Vince is a great guy, but he has helped out a lot of guys who have had problems with drugs and money. He bought Austin a house, before he became a big star. Austin lost it in the divorce but such is life. I know that for every good thing he's done there is a laundry list of bad, but ignoring the good to bash him is unfair. With Rhyno, it was pretty cold but I'm sure he was on the chopping block anyway. Considering nearly everybody at his level on the card who had been with the company since 2001 or before have been axed.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2266842 It should also be mentioned that most of the guys he sent to rehab were offically off the WWE payroll, ensuring the word "former" would appear in any obituaries.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2266872 That doesn't mean that he didn't help them out. And I think a lot of them were just suspended during rehab so they still would have been under contract.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2267382 Vince has sent a lot of guys through rehab, and I do agree that there's only so much he can do from his position, but there was never an offer made to send Kerry through rehab, and Vince can probably share more of the burden than anyone for creating nearly impossible standards in physique. That look just can't be achieved legally, and he doesn't push smaller guys typically.
May 25, 200520 yr Author comment_2267498 There's also the time Vince completely hung Dr. D out to dry on 20/20. That's pretty high up there on the scummiest things he ever did.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2267588 I'd have to put the fact that one of his jobbers died in the 80s and he aired their match on TV that weekend anyway pretty high up there too.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2267733 The Texas Tornado finished with a claw followed by a discus punch. He was terrible. He was rocking the fringe when that shit wasn't cool anymore. Didn't he also have half a foot? Besides, he was a Von Erich. He was cursed...just like the Armstrongs. I can't really add anything to the topic as the inital question was answered a long time ago but I just wanted to throw that out there.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2267901 Von Erich didn't suck in his prime, the tassles were still cool at that time (Warrior was WWF Champ), and I hadn't heard anything about the Armstrongs being cursed. Unless having 3 jobbers and the worst worker become the biggest star is a curse. EDIT: GH, what happened to your "Vince is Scum" thread? I was about to post in it after I finished this one.
May 25, 200520 yr Author comment_2268050 Yeah, he lost most of his foot in a motorcycle accident. If you watch closely during his WWF matches you can see he uses the ropes a lot.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2268513 EDIT: GH, what happened to your "Vince is Scum" thread? I was about to post in it after I finished this one. Heh. I want to rewrite it. Go a little more in depth in the intro and actually make a comprehensive list of the scummy things that McMahon has done. It will probably return sometime this weekend.
May 25, 200520 yr comment_2268708 Right, the whole purpose is to point out all of his fallacies, not his positives. Maybe you can create the "people who done Vince wrong" thread. It's only fair
May 26, 200520 yr comment_2270809 I'd have to put the fact that one of his jobbers died in the 80s and he aired their match on TV that weekend anyway pretty high up there too. Who was that?
May 26, 200520 yr comment_2275204 It was Rick McGraw, who not only was a jobber for Vince, but in other territories as well. He did a stretcher job to Roddy Piper in his last match and ended up dying a few days before the match was to air, and it aired anyway.
