The "Booker Man" Incident

[OYDK]

I was recently watching SuperBrawl 6 on the WWE Network and it brought to my mind the circumstances surrounding the infamous "Booker Man Incident" and how this all came about. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this moment (and if you are familiar you can skip this part), I'll just give some brief background information on the lead-up to the incident; Heading into 1996, Bryan Pillman had been portraying a character that blurred the lines of kayfabe and reality, and became increasingly more unpredictable, violent, and maniacal in his antics. In reality, it was becoming harder and harder to decipher between Pillman's wrestling gimmick and his real-life persona, and people became worried at his outlandish and unpredictable behavior both on-screen and off. Arn Anderson and Ric Flair were even given the task of trying to moderate him, without success. This was the beginning of Pillman's "Loose Cannon" gimmick and started off a number of incidents in which Pillman was involved in. Now heading into SuperBrawl 96, Pillman is embroiled in a feud with WCW head booker Kevin Sullivan and is placed in a strap match in which the loser must tell his opponent, "I Respect You". After rushing the ring and legitimately brawling with Sullivan for a minute, Pillman rushes the ref, takes the mic and says, "I Respect You... Booker Man", before leaving the ring. It's obvious that this is not planned as Sullivan, the announcers, and the fans are all left in complete confusion and shock before Arn, dressed in a golf shirt and short shorts and obviously not prepared to compete, comes down to take Pillman's place in the match.

I have a couple questions about this moment as I've heard conflicting stories surrounding how this came about;

1. The most known explanation given for this, is that Bischoff was actually in on the whole thing and he and Pillman were actually working the entire industry. The plan was for Bischoff to "fire" Pillman following the incident, which would allow Brian to go to ECW and perfect the Loose Cannon gimmick he had been portraying, before being brought back to WCW as a huge star. As we now know, Pillman was probably working Bischoff at the same time as he ended up signing with WWF instead.

2. Another story I've heard regarding this moment was that it was actually Sullivan and Pillman who privately created this plan, and that they were the ONLY two in on this. Judging from Sullivan's reaction after the match I find this difficult to believe though.

So, what's the real story? Was this all part of a big plan, or was it just another "Pillman moment"? Also, do you think Pillman ever had designs of going back to WCW after being fired?

Might be an odd topic, but I've become interested again. Thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[TheLittleOne]

AWESOME memory brother.. PILLMAN was a genius.. great worker too, so many beautiful matches in wcw against jush liger, tom zenk, AA, teamin with Austin, and great war games match Sting's Squadron vs Dangerous Alliance..

anyway i remember that time in wcw, pillman was tryin hard to get out of his wcw papers i know pillman was getting a lil crazy around that time in other ways backstage and on the road.. i have heard from guys that worked with him that he started using recreational gimmicks more often and it was affecting him.. nothin like after his car accident which is very under rated..

brian Pillman finally left wcw, made it to ECW ( had great relationship with paul heyman from early wcw dangerous alliance days)... pillman had some wild promos and was still in good / great shape for his body style and bottom line was known to WORK and could GO.. PLUS PLUS had BRET HART & owen & bulldog & ron simmons & others pulling for him.. he came in RED HOT which was different at that time.. they had a specialy " signing" where they called him wrestlings #1 hottest free agent!! and who could forget ( actually almost every1) at KOTR 96 same night as AUSTINS famous 316 speech, PILLMAN cut a crazy semi- shoot promo with " i'm gunna rape , pillage, and plunder this entire federation.. from head to toe haha"..

proof again, then along with Goldust and Austin and HBK, Pillman helped usher in attitude EARLY.. that was june 96.. and it seemed like some work with bret was gunna happen.. BOOM terrible CAR WRECK, his entire foot ankle was shattered and un usable.. never the same again.. great feud with AUSTIN and the most memorable RAW moment from 1996 .. the GUN, the BREAK IN at pillmans house.. the F WORD...
then austin kayfab broke pillmans ankle and austin went on to feud with bret..

lucklily in 97 pillman was apart of the new HART FOUNDATION my fav stable in wwe history. the most over in 97.. and had some great moments since there was alot of multi-man matches.. and 1 last great feud with Goldustin rhodes.. where PILLMAN went over the line alot verbally and with video home camera footage when he beat forced marlena to travel and sleep with him.. and of course after losing to goldust PILLMAN wrestled in a Gold sparkling dress on RAW... and the night of oct 97 ppv Brian Pillman was found in hotel... and passed away..

he was never going to be the same after car accident but i still wish he didnt begin to hate himself cause he was GOLD on MIC.. and we dont talk enough about it today..

Brian F'N Pillman
i dont call 911..( pic of gun!)
THE LOOSE CANNON
THE TICKING TIME BOMB

 

[Wald]

As far as I'm aware it was Pillman and Bischoff working together, I get that mostly from seeing an interview with Arn on the topic and from the article below too.

http://www.leftways.com/2015/03/loose-cannon-brian-pillman/

Pretty sure Bischoff has said likewise in the past too

 

[Anger]

Great post idea. I have been watching Nitro and the WCW PPV's in order starting with Nitro 01, and I just watched SuperBrawl VI this past weekend. I have so enjoyed watching the great work from Macho, Naitch, Sting, Arn and especially Pillman; I always liked Pillman but never saw that much of him in WCW after Raw took off, so getting to see him work his crazed magic on the mic, and in the ring has been sweet. I knew when the brawl with Sullivan started that it was not as planned, and when he grabbed that mic and made his statement-the look on Sullivan's was priceless-I laughed like a motherfucker. It was perfect. I have read recently that Bischoff was in on it as the beginning of breaking the fourth wall in professional wrestling. I don't buy Sullivan being in on it at all-that completely disbelieving, what the fuck just happened look was far beyond Sullivan's limited acting ability. If you haven't seen SuperBrawl VI, it's worth it just to see that entire encounter. Amazing.

 

[closet_fan]

1. The most known explanation given for this, is that Bischoff was actually in on the whole thing and he and Pillman were actually working the entire industry. The plan was for Bischoff to "fire" Pillman following the incident, which would allow Brian to go to ECW and perfect the Loose Cannon gimmick he had been portraying, before being brought back to WCW as a huge star. As we now know, Pillman was probably working Bischoff at the same time as he ended up signing with WWF instead.

From the stories I heard, Bischoff and Pillman were working the locker room while Pillman was working Bischoff to the point where he convinced Bischoff to fax him his termination papers. Even though it was supposed to be fake, they were legit copies of paperwork saying Pillman was fired from WCW. That's how he ended up in ECW since Bischoff couldn't do anything about it.

I also remember Jim Ross telling a story where Pillman and McMahon were at a convention and Pillman started a fight with McMahon or his people. Ross was freaking out until Pillman whispered it was all just a work.

Pillman was great at blurring the lines back then.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I was never a fan of Brian Pillman. I could never buy into him as a star or take him seriously. To me he would never be more than a low-level jobber, and I wouldn't have given two craps about the outcome of this angle.

Now that I think about it, the fact that Dean Ambrose reminds me a lot of Brian Pillman is a big part of the reason I can't stand Dean Ambrose.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Bischoff tried to claim credit once Brian was dead... the reality is that Pillman knew there was interest in his "loose cannon" persona from WWE and he was working his way to getting them to release him... soon after he attacked Bobby Heenan on air, causing the first F-Bomb on Nitro...

No one was in on it - not even Bischoff cos Brian had an endgame in mind - Vince was interested in him, he could have matched with Shawn and Bret as basically the character that Austin became...but his accident screwed it. So he did the next best thing and clued his buddy Austin in on what he had going and Austin took the baton and ran with it.

Whenever Eric tries to claim he knew, I want to punch him...cos it's so clear that they had no clue what planet Pillman was on...

 

[boozinjedi]

Bischoff tried to claim credit once Brian was dead... the reality is that Pillman knew there was interest in his "loose cannon" persona from WWE and he was working his way to getting them to release him... soon after he attacked Bobby Heenan on air, causing the first F-Bomb on Nitro...

.

I remember that!!!
No one had any idea what Pillman was doing and all of the sudden we heard Heenan blurt out,,WHAT THE F--K ARE YOU DOING?!

I had to stop the tape...rewind and double check what I just saw!!

 

[Savior of Silence]

Brian Pillman was working with Kevin Sullivan and Eric Bischoff, but separately. Go watch some Kevin Sullivan shoots on Youtube or go torrent the Kevin Sullivan Youshoot.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

Pillman was working everyone. Both Sullivan and Bischoff thought they were in with Pillman but Pillman had his own thoughts. Bischoff got played big time.

The Loose cannon gimmick was perfect at that time. When he went to the WWE he was at the right place at the right time. It is a shame that drugs and genetics caught up to him. Sadly, his stepdaughter Alexis died in 2009 from injures sustained in a car accident.

I was never a fan of Brian Pillman. I could never buy into him as a star or take him seriously. To me he would never be more than a low-level jobber, and I wouldn't have given two craps about the outcome of this angle.

Now that I think about it, the fact that Dean Ambrose reminds me a lot of Brian Pillman is a big part of the reason I can't stand Dean Ambrose.

Judging by most of your posts, you don't seem to like anything.

 

[jpickens]

The only thing Brian Pillman and Dean Ambrose have in common is that they're from the same hometown if anyone today can be compared to Pillman it would have to be Kenny Omega.

 

[Cena Is A Punk Rocker]

I listened to a show on MLW radio about an hour ago. Was from a little over a year ago and Sullivan says the entire idea was Pillmans. Sullivan says that he was let in on it but nobody else knew about it.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/w...ots-volume-5-brian-pillman-vs-kevin-sullivan/

There's a nice article on the whole angle, and it's pretty consistent with everything I've heard in the past. Right down to what Meltzer wrote in his Pillman obituary.

They played the entire thing incredibly close to the chest. Only Pillman and Bischoff were in on it. Sullivan had no idea, because part of pulling the angle off was making sure that all of the talents reactions to what Pillman was doing were genuine.

The reason for him double crossing Bischoff and signing with the WWF from how I've understood it, was the accident. Pillman was the only one who knew the extent of the damage at the time, and was fearful that once word got out about how badly he was hurt, he wouldn't be able to get a contract anywhere. The WWF had a contract on the table for him that they hadn't pulled. A guaranteed contract too, which was the key. He was able to kayfabe them a little that he was going to be OK, and they signed the deal. With the guaranteed deal, even after the WWF found out shortly after the extent of Pillman's injuries, they still had to pay him. If he'd gone back to WCW and kayfabed them into giving him a new deal, it wouldn't have been guaranteed, and once they found out how bad off he was, then he's screwed.

If Pillman doesn't have that accident? He probably ends up back in WCW shortly after. From what I heard, he had hoped to form his own version of the Four Horsemen in WCW (I believe that was from the Meltzer obit - I really wish I still had that book of them). Then again, very shortly after, and around the same time frame that he would have been coming back, the NWO forms and takes off like no one in that company could have imagined. Pillman could have very easily realized that he'd get lost in the shuffle coming back during that angle (since as a WCW guy he didn't fit the earliest demographic of NWO membership), and gone to the WWF because of that.

Or, since WCW would have been paying A LOT more than the WWF at the time, he could have just as easily gone back there for the money, and happily settled back into the mid card with the whole Loose Cannon forgotten and his families future nice and secure.

There were a lot of moving pieces involved during that time that no one can say with any real certainty how things would have turned out. He was enough of a gambler that he allowed himself to be fired for real as a part of a wrestling angle while having a very large family to support... but at the same time he was doing what he was doing for the sake of that very large family he had to support. In the end, whatever path he goes (going back to WCW, going to WWF) would have been the path he thought took care of that very large family the best.