Five Backstage Myths Debunked

[Wald]

I remember Hogan saying the reason Savagae hadn't gone back to the WWE (he was alive at this point) was simply to do with money.

Macho Man had enough so that he could dictate his own terms to Vince, Vince disagreed completely with the price Savage wanted and that was that. This is also very believable when you consider that Savage left the WWF in 1993 because he felt Vince didn't appreciate him and undercut him on his contract.

Another myth I don't believe is that Shawn Michaels slept with Vince McMahon in exchange for a title run

Have heard it a few times, most famously the Road Warriors and Honky Tonk said they believed it in shoot interviews but I don't buy it. First off, Shawn was coming up the ranks anyway and didn't get the title to 1996, by which time he had earned his shot. Even if Vince had offered this to him in 1995/96 than Shawn had the option of WCW to go to, Vince would have been terrified of losing him as he was reaching his peak.

Also Bret Hart never once used this as a slur on either of Shawn's or Vince's name throughout the whole Montreal fallout, you gotta think if there was any truth to it he would have definitely put it out there.

 

[rokuma]

I'm sorry, I don't believe the whole "Savage didn't go back to WWE because of money" schtick. There has to be more than that. Don't forget, after WCW's collapse, Savage wrestled a six-man tag for TNA (in the NWA days). If Savage was intent on having a short run again, not for money but just because he wanted to wrestle, wouldn't it make sense to you that he would do that in the WWE and not the minor leagues of NWA-TNA, two years after their inception? It doesn't make sense to me. Also, let's not forget that he did this for WWE, shortly before his death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLlBQ_h5460

I do believe the Dibiase one. I think the WWF was going to try something new, but got cold feet. I don't think it has anything to do with Honky Tonk Man though.

Luger is possible. If they weren't intent on pushing Luger, why have the double finish at the Rumble anyways? He probably blew it for himself since he was feuding with Tatanka by Summerslam.

 

[gambit420]

Also Bret Hart never once used this as a slur on either of Shawn's or Vince's name throughout the whole Montreal fallout, you gotta think if there was any truth to it he would have definitely put it out there.

You're wrong there. I remember Bret Hart saying publicly he believed that Vince and Shawn had a homosexual relationship. It woulda been 1999ish on Howard Stern.

 

[JBShakes]

...in the case of #1. I've seen Hogan tell this particular story in a couple of different versions, and I've never gotten the impression he was suggesting that he didn't know what the scripted finish to the match was, but was always suggesting that he had some concern (whether justified or not) that Andre, late in his career and somewhat legitimately annoyed by the fact that he'd been one of the biggest stars in the world for a long time but never rewarded with a lengthy run as champion, might just decide not to go along with the finish. Hogan's always seemed to suggest that if a guy like Andre decided not to "play ball" in a particular match, you weren't gonna do a whole heck of a lot to stop him.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

For the guy who said that Luger should have won at WM9 - he was fighting Perfect at that time as the Narcissist, the Lex Express face turn didn't begin till 4th of July so no way would he have worked any earlier than Summerslam... that it didn't speaks volulmes about Luger.

KB 's point about the Brackets is valid, but to be fair they were distorted anyway by having the 14 man bracket and Hogan and Andre in it at all. If they were dead set on a change, then Hogan and Andre would have had a "career match" instead of being in the tourney. I think the only reason that didn't occur was that they wanted to use Andre to get Warrior over before they finally put him out to pasture.

Bigelow was being positioned as a Hogan replacement, but his green-ness was holding him back, while was clearly talented, he lacked the seasoning that Savage had and I think that led to his leaving.

Would DiBiase have made more sense, even as a placeholder? I think so - as I remember there was a possibility Jesse was going to be able to wrestle and they considered Piperinstead of Andre in that Summerslam main event and then DiBiase as champ made a lot more sense, being able to buy someone special as he was the champ.

At the end of the day WM4 and 1987-88 is the marmite of WWE, you either loved it or wish it was different.

In terms of Ricky Steamboat, he at the time had "disrespected" the biz by requesting time off. Today it's commonplace but then it was basically professional suicide in the WWF. Losing to HTM wasn't disrespectful at all, he was a hot heel, with a manager who could (and did) help him win so Ricky didn't look weak. The only "weak" part was that the reign was short, but that's what Ricky wanted. Could they have moved someone else into that spot? Jake no, he had his gimmick, the Snake Bag - think about it, there is a reason guys with "gimmicks" like Animals, Nightsticks etc didn't get titles as a rule, as it would have slowed the entrance down and a belt and a gimmick would just detract from their weapon/item/gimmick. Jake would have had to either stop using Damien or parade the belt over the fallen body while the snake was on it - Jake as a heel maybe but he was their Number 4 face then so no dice.

Shawn and Vince is a possibility, maybe even likely but remember Shawn was with Sunny at that time and they'd split near the "Sunny Days" time. Prior it's possible something like that happened but Bret would keep quiet... He wouldn't look so good if he went and outed Vince McMahon or Shawn, potentially wrecking marriages/relationships when one of his public beefs was Shawn doing that to him.

At the end of the day how many guys in that era got there through that sort of stuff, be it Vince or Pat Patterson? Brawler is probably the one most would acknowledge as one of "Pat's boys" but he didn't spend 20+years in the company cos of that... likewise if anything did happen with Randy and Steph it didn't cripple her emotionally, sometimes people do stupid things when they are young or should know better, maybe even your or my parents, so leave it alone... if it was your mom, daughter sister, brother or uncle you wouldn't want it out there, so why would Vince or Lanny talk about it?

 

[Chadmw]

I always thought the WM III rumour, was that the plan was set in stone for Hogan to of course win, but they were scared that Andre himself would change his mind during the match and not do the job

 

[AttitudeAJM]

Like many have already said, Hogan and Andre knew the ending to their match but more than likely Hogan was concerned if Andre would go through with it. It was a very different time in wrestling where guys were trained to shoot if they needed to. If Andre thought it would be his last match and didn't want to lose he could keep Hogan from winning if he wanted to.

As far as Savage in concerned, I would think that most of the bad blood comes from Savage taking his Slim Jim sponsorship with him to WCW. Those ads were big money for WWF at the time and when Savage left so did that money. Aside from that I think the two sides never really came together to solve any lingering issues, especially since Savage was all but retired by the time WWE would be interested in bringing him back.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The Slim Jim stuff was definitely a factor I am sure... that sponsorship loss was one of the reasons WWE struggled in that 95/96 period and they couldn't hold on to names like Diesel and Razor or sign Sting in 1994. They weren't public then so it was money Vince had to replace out of his own pocket to keep the WWF afloat. Good point!

 

[FlairFan2003]

The story Ive heard Hogan tell is that him winning the match vs Andre was a done deal, what he didnt KNOW until the match took place was if Andre would go through with it, he was very proud of his 20 year unbeaten streak and there was concern he might not go along with the finish.

Ive heard DiBiase tell the "Million Dollar" belt story multiple times. True or not one thing is certain, he was able to milk that belt as a prop to his character for seeral years, helping him stay relevant literally until he was injured and could no longer wrestle. He did get more mileage out of it than a single World Title Run would have done for him, although I think he could have pulled off a Ric Flair-Heel style run that eventually would have set up a big $$ match with Hogan if he had been given the chance.

Not sure what to think of Butch Reed but he was out of WWE not long after, I believe he was back in the NWA in 1988, definately by 89. Was he the "Chosen One" who fell out of favor or was he never really that much "In Favor" to begin with ?

As for Luger, it always seemed like WWE wanted to swerve fans, everyone was SO SURE Luger would win at SummerSlam, it would actually draw more interest if he didnt get the title, plus it would give more heat to YokoZuna as the Top Heel if he somehow retained, kind of like Randy Orton's surprise retention at WrestleMania 24. Luger wasnt going to get much more over with or without the belt, like Brett he had a ceiling, it was higher than most other wrestlers, but he was about as big a draw with the title as without. A few more title runs would have enhanced his character down the road like they did for Hart but It was clear to me (nd probably WWE) that swerving the audience would generate more buzz initially than just having Luger walk in and grab the title, especially after 10 years of Hulk Hogan's almost automatic Title Triumphs.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Never heard the one about Hogan not knowing the finish going into his match at WrestleMania 3, but it does sound far-fetched.

The Honky Tonk Man himself has said that he got the IC title because Butch Reed no-showed that night. He said they needed to get the belt off of Steamboat and Hogan suggested him.

Ted DiBiase WAS booked to win the WrestleMania 4 tournament. In the original bracketing for the tournament, it was set up so DiBiase would face Hogan in the finals. Then all the stuff with HTM, Savage and the IC title happened.

I remember somebody said going into WM 10 that Luger would beat Yokozuna, then lose to Bret at the end of the night. That was the most I ever heard of Luger winning the title that night. Now if you're talking about SummerSlam 1993, Luger was originally booked to win the match against Yokozuna, but Vince decided Luger wasn't over enough with the fans and changed his mind at the last minute.

As for Randy and Stephanie, I think Ox Baker's claims that he killed two men with his Heart Punch have more truth than this one.

 

[d_henderson1810]

For the guy who said that Luger should have won at WM9 - he was fighting Perfect at that time as the Narcissist, the Lex Express face turn didn't begin till 4th of July so no way would he have worked any earlier than Summerslam... that it didn't speaks volulmes about Luger.

KB 's point about the Brackets is valid, but to be fair they were distorted anyway by having the 14 man bracket and Hogan and Andre in it at all. If they were dead set on a change, then Hogan and Andre would have had a "career match" instead of being in the tourney. I think the only reason that didn't occur was that they wanted to use Andre to get Warrior over before they finally put him out to pasture.

Bigelow was being positioned as a Hogan replacement, but his green-ness was holding him back, while was clearly talented, he lacked the seasoning that Savage had and I think that led to his leaving.

Would DiBiase have made more sense, even as a placeholder? I think so - as I remember there was a possibility Jesse was going to be able to wrestle and they considered Piperinstead of Andre in that Summerslam main event and then DiBiase as champ made a lot more sense, being able to buy someone special as he was the champ.

At the end of the day WM4 and 1987-88 is the marmite of WWE, you either loved it or wish it was different.

In terms of Ricky Steamboat, he at the time had "disrespected" the biz by requesting time off. Today it's commonplace but then it was basically professional suicide in the WWF. Losing to HTM wasn't disrespectful at all, he was a hot heel, with a manager who could (and did) help him win so Ricky didn't look weak. The only "weak" part was that the reign was short, but that's what Ricky wanted. Could they have moved someone else into that spot? Jake no, he had his gimmick, the Snake Bag - think about it, there is a reason guys with "gimmicks" like Animals, Nightsticks etc didn't get titles as a rule, as it would have slowed the entrance down and a belt and a gimmick would just detract from their weapon/item/gimmick. Jake would have had to either stop using Damien or parade the belt over the fallen body while the snake was on it - Jake as a heel maybe but he was their Number 4 face then so no dice.

Shawn and Vince is a possibility, maybe even likely but remember Shawn was with Sunny at that time and they'd split near the "Sunny Days" time. Prior it's possible something like that happened but Bret would keep quiet... He wouldn't look so good if he went and outed Vince McMahon or Shawn, potentially wrecking marriages/relationships when one of his public beefs was Shawn doing that to him.

At the end of the day how many guys in that era got there through that sort of stuff, be it Vince or Pat Patterson? Brawler is probably the one most would acknowledge as one of "Pat's boys" but he didn't spend 20+years in the company cos of that... likewise if anything did happen with Randy and Steph it didn't cripple her emotionally, sometimes people do stupid things when they are young or should know better, maybe even your or my parents, so leave it alone... if it was your mom, daughter sister, brother or uncle you wouldn't want it out there, so why would Vince or Lanny talk about it?

In regards to disrespecting Steamboat. It may have been "career suicide" at the time, but it has continued for years, despite him working for WWE as a trainer.

This is shown by how every man and his dog from NXT and development are being brought up EXCEPT Richie Steamboat, the "Dragon's" son. They even teased it with Wade Barrett calling Steamboat a "has-been" on "Raw", and yet, instead of Richie coming up to defend his father's honor, they had Bo Dallas fight Barrett, when Dallas wasn't ready.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

I'm sorry, I don't believe the whole "Savage didn't go back to WWE because of money" schtick. There has to be more than that. Don't forget, after WCW's collapse, Savage wrestled a six-man tag for TNA (in the NWA days). If Savage was intent on having a short run again, not for money but just because he wanted to wrestle, wouldn't it make sense to you that he would do that in the WWE and not the minor leagues of NWA-TNA, two years after their inception? It doesn't make sense to me. Also, let's not forget that he did this for WWE, shortly before his death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLlBQ_h5460

I'd never seen that video, but I'd honestly say that proves the opposite of what you're saying.

For one, it shows that the bridge wasn't burned. WWE didn't need Savage to promote that game, and the fact that they used him anyways shows that they still had interest in working with him, and that he didn't have a problem with it either. So why didn't they work together more? Hard to say, but again, I'd suggest the fact that Savage never needed to like many of his peers would have something to do with that.

Also why would he work with TNA instead of the WWE? Could have been because he'd been out of the game for a little while at that point, and wanted to see if he could still go before calling McMahon. His TNA run was brief, and pretty bad. He simply wasn't the same guy anymore, and he was a pretty proud guy. He wasn't going back to the National stage and hurt his legacy. Also it could be as simple as the fact that he was a proud guy, and just looking at how they used contemporaries like Hennig at the time, he was afraid he'd just be used as a JTTS (which probably would have been the case).

Savage was very protective of his legacy... and if you think about it, the fact that he was able to walk away and stay away has protected it. Just look at guys like Hogan and Flair, and think how much better their legacies would look today if they had walked away from the business when Savage did.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Ted Dibiase was supposed to win the WrestleMania IV tournament

Never considered this possibility; yet, it makes sense. The black marble was Hulk Hogan: it was time to take the belt off him, but no bad guy in God's creation was going to be allowed to beat him. As good a heel as was DiBiase, there was no way Hogan was going to permit history to reflect the belt being taken from him by the Million Dollar Man. The manner in which they took Hogan out of the tournament was brilliant: by having he and Andre the Giant knock each other out of the running, it not only provided a painless way to eliminate Hogan from title contention, but gave him a chance to show himself a good sport by supporting and aiding his friend Randy Savage. In those days, everything revolved around Hogan.....even his loss of the championship.

As a 9-year-old watching WMIV, I was expecting DiBiase to win the tournament, thinking they were never going to put the belt on Savage. It was amazing watching him win it, the excitement sullied only a bit when Hogan helped him do it.

Personally, I think it would have been fine to have DiBiase win the tournament and enjoy a brief title reign before dropping it to Savage. But if the scenario they wound up with was implemented just before the event, I believe WWE did an amazing job of putting it over. Not all re-writes turn out as well as this one.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I agree with you on all of them. But I heard #1 a little differently. It's not that Hogan didn't know how the match would end at WM3. Apparently it was decided well ahead of time that Hogan would win. What I heard is that no one, including Hogan or Vince were 100% sure that Andre would actually do the job. So Hogan went into the match knowing that he was booked to win, but unsure if Andre would do the honor. Which, to me is a more believable story... true or not.

 

[Wald]

Like many have already said, Hogan and Andre knew the ending to their match but more than likely Hogan was concerned if Andre would go through with it. It was a very different time in wrestling where guys were trained to shoot if they needed to. If Andre thought it would be his last match and didn't want to lose he could keep Hogan from winning if he wanted to.

I think I heard Heenan say as much before, that there were concerns Andre would decide in the ring that he wasn't going through with it. If he did Hogan would have looked a chump cause Andre could just knock him out.

Think it was during an interview where Heenan said there were real concerns about Andre shooting on Warrior when they worked a house show program together. Andre apparently had no respect for Warrior and Warrior didn't even acknowledge the kind of rub Andre was giving him on the circuit and so further pissed him off. Heenan made mention of WM3 but said Andre respected Hogan so there was never any fear of him not doing the job.

 

[Makaveli31]

Lanny Poffo has revealed since Randy's death that Randy didn't go back because he felt Vince slighted his dad Angelo. I think it was a legends battle royal during the '80's and Vince omitted Angelo Poffo and Randy carried that grudge for a long time. Lanny has said the WWE had made multiple overtures to Randy when he alive to be inducted into the Hall of Fame but Randy had said either the entire Poffo family gets inducted ala the Von Erichs or no one does. Lanny even said Randy made his swear in the event of his demise that he would not accept the WWE inducting Randy on his behalf into the Hall of Fame. Yo have to admire Randy's family values and standing up for his father.

 

[oogieboogie]

In regards to Lex, all the stories i heard were that once he slammed Yoko and started the Lex Express he was due to win the title at Summerslam and not WM. Then a few days before he blagged in a bar that he was gonna win the title. Vince found out and changed the outcome.

 

[theHeadliner]

First off, the day after the Royal Rumble when Bret and Lex tied they went to the Stamford offices to shoot promos, and Vince told Bret right there he was taking the title from Yoko after Lex faced him earlier. Lex also refuted this.

I'm surprised there are no Kliq myth stories on here. What about the Shawn/Pam Anderson rumor? Nash said it wasn't true.

 

[Makaveli31]

I'm surprised there are no Kliq myth stories on here. What about the Shawn/Pam Anderson rumor? Nash said it wasn't true

.

There are no "clique" myths because most of the stuff is true lol. Pat Patterson actually said on WWE 24/7 that they had trouble getting Pam out of the limo with Tommy.

 

[theHeadliner]

.

There are no "clique" myths because most of the stuff is true lol. Pat Patterson actually said on WWE 24/7 that they had trouble getting Pam out of the limo with Tommy.

But was that because of Shawn, because Kevin said any rumor involving Shawn and Pam were false.

 

[BLeonard]

1. As others have said, I believe that the only thing in doubt was whether or not Andre would go through with the planned finish.

2. I don't think so. Steamboat wanted time off, to be with his wife and newborn son (Richie was born less than a month after Honky won the belt). The Honky Tonk/Jake The Snake feud continued after Honky won the strap, so, if anything, IMO, the plan was likely to have Honky as a transitional champ to drop it to Jake... Unfortunately, Jake was still suffering for the guitar shot on the Snake Pit before WrestleMania and without anyone else really at that level as a face, Honky simply kept the belt.

3. As others have said, the original bracket had Hogan and DiBiase on opposite ends, which certainly lends credibility to the story. But, I don't see DiBiase beating Hogan in the final and, if the plan was for DiBiase to win the belt, why strip it from him after he "bought" it from Andre? If the end plan was to have DiBiase as champion, the "buying the belt from Andre" story, at least IMO, makes a LOT more sense for DiBiase's character... The part about Honky, while I guess is possible, I find hard to believe... If it were true, why did Vince allow Honky to hold the belt for five months after the fact, until SummerSlam?

4. It's possible, but the time to do it would have been SummerSlam, when Luger was at his "hottest." It might very well have been the plan at SummerSlam, but I don't think it was by the time the Royal Rumble rolled around.

5. I don't buy it. I don't think Savage was happy being "just an announcer," which is the only capacity Vince wanted him in. I also don't think that if Savage had done anything with Stephanie, there would have been any "burying of the hatchet" with Savage later doing a commercial and WWE putting him in video games, action figures, having a 3 disc DVD about him, etc. While I'm certainly not Vince, if one of my employees had done something with my underage daughter, no amount of merchandise sales would make up for it and I likely would have filed a lawsuit as well, which certainly would have affected his WCW career.

-Bill