The "Madusa" Incident

[Trill Co$by]

As some of us all know in 1995-96 the then WWF released Madusa from her contract and in no time, she showed up on Nitro with the WWF Women's title and threw it in the garbage. My question... Did she have every right to do so?

Now I know that Mike Awesome and ECW had conflict with their title and all, but for Madusa, I think she wasn't actually wrong in doing so. The World Wrestling Federation built her up and put her as the women's champion. While she was champion, her contract expired. WWF, being who they are, obviously either forgot or didn't care about Madusa's contract. I mean how can you forget the contract of one of your champions? Or, how could you not care about the contract of one of your champions?

Not to mention, she's not the first and last person to be released from their contracts while still champion before showing up on Nitro or WCW. Jeff Jarrett was released from the WWF in 99 while he was the IC Champion. Jarrett, rightfully feeling pissed that the WWF forgot to renew the contract of their IC Champion, insured himself some money for the IC title match so he could lose it to Chyna before going to Nitro.

However, the thing is, he and Madusa in a way had every right to go to WCW with their titles. If the promoter forgets to take the strap off of someone then why should that someone care? Hell, Ric Flair took the NWA title to the WWF and he's still praised as one of the best in the business (well he is but still).

Anyway, Madusa was she right or wrong? Your opinion.

 

[MrHashasheen]

As some of us all know in 1995-96 the then WWF released Madusa from her contract and in no time, she showed up on Nitro with the WWF Women's title and threw it in the garbage. My question... Did she have every right to do so?

No. (I'm a person, who despite realising its kayfabe, see championships as more than props.) While she had every right to run down the WWF, tossing the championship was too far. Even she felt so, but Eric Bischoff pressured her into doing it. Which is another thing to lay at Bischoff's feet, along with the non-existent WCW Women's Division he promised.

Now I know that Mike Awesome and ECW had conflict with their title and all, but for Madusa, I think she wasn't actually wrong in doing so. The World Wrestling Federation built her up and put her as the women's champion. While she was champion, her contract expired. WWF, being who they are, obviously either forgot or didn't care about Madusa's contract. I mean how can you forget the contract of one of your champions? Or, how could you not care about the contract of one of your champions?

Because Vince at the time treated the division like crap. He was planning to take the strap off her anyway, or retire the division, which he did for a while after the incident anyway.

However, the thing is, he and Madusa in a way had every right to go to WCW with their titles. If the promoter forgets to take the strap off of someone then why should that someone care? Hell, Ric Flair took the NWA title to the WWF and he's still praised as one of the best in the business (well he is but still).

Except he owned that championship. It was his by right of purchase. He paid 25,000 for the belt as an investment which every champ did, was not given that investment back, and opted to take the belt to the WWF with him. It was more like a real-life Million Dollar Belt.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I dont think she really did anything wrong. She was out of contract and the WWF obviously hadnt cared enough about her or the belt to write up a new deal for her. WCW came and offered her more money and then Bisch told her to bring the belt with her and drop it in the trash. Whether she wanted to or not, and by all accounts she didnt, WCW was offering her a contract and security, while the WWF had just let her deal expire. She obviously wanted the contract and money that WCW were offering, and so agreed to do it. Would WCW have offered her less money if she didnt bring the belt with her or not signed her at all?

I think she did what she had to do to ensure she got paid and was given a contract by WCW, you cant blame her for that. Yeah, it looked a shitty thing to do, but it wasnt her idea and she probably needed the cash

 

[Judah's Lion]

whether she had the "right" to or not is one thing.

it seems to me that many people feel they have a lot of "rights" when what they really have is "privileges". the main difference being that privileges can be taken away.

she may have had the right to and she may have been pressured by the money and the machine that WCW was offering at the time. she may have simply been tempted and couldn't resist the urge to humiliate the company that forgot about one of its champions.

i'm not sure how it all went down. i do know that i would have done it differently because, personally, i simply wouldn't find it wise to burn a billion-dollar-bridge in a business that i have invested in with incredible passion for numerous years.

still, i wasn't there and so i can't judge and i'm certainly not criticizing Madusa. again, i wasn't there so i don't know. i just think, given what i do know, that i would do it differently because i wouldn't want to slam shut a door that i might have to use one day later in life. if that makes any sense.

 

[MisterRob]

I don't think anyone can make excuses for Medusa. What she did was sheer stupidity for herself, and it was also entirely disrespectful not only to the WWF but to all the women wrestlers who'd come before her who had been part of that division and helped make the title she threw into the garbage. That alone makes her silly for throwing a championship she helped make into the garbage. It's sad for her that she's never going to likely be in the Hall of Fame and will likely be forgotten in wrestling history because Vince owns WWE and WCW's video libraries, all because of one stupid mistake. But, she did it to herself and that's exactly what she deserves.

Although, the true villain in this is Eric Bischoff who manipulated her and outright lied to her. It certainly shows the kind of character he has.

 

[The Dude]

keep in mind that if this incident with Madusa never happened, there NEVER would have been the Montreal Screwjob.

WCW also had an instance (albeit certainly not as significant) of letting a current champion walk... Meng, who was the current WCW Hardcore champ, jumped ship and made a surprise entry at the 2001 Royal Rumble.

 

[TUFFY54]

While she had every right to throw it away, it was still very stupid of her. Madusa's problem was that she didn't have the pull to work for anyone else if the WCW deal went bad. Vince saw Madusa on WCW and said that he would never hire her again. The second Flair showed up on WWF with the belt, WCW started trying to get him to come back. Madusa would have made a hell of a lot of money in the WWF a few years later it she hadn't trashed the belt. Vince certainly would of brought her in to feud with the likes of Trish and Lita.

 

[DeathClutch]

From an interview she done not to long ago, she revealed Eric Bischoff "pushed" her to do it, she wasn't comfortable doing it but did it for the sake of her new job and to keep her employer happy.

Looking back she wished she'd of handled the situation better and not have done it as she believes it cost her a job in the long run. (which I personally agree with as she was the best womens wrestler of the 90s bar none) OH and not to forget when she dumped the belt in the trash can, it actually stayed their she wasn't able to retireve it and stated that someone got a piece of history as she had the actual belt and not a replica.

In all honesty WWE started the Champions showing up on TV with Flair back in 1992 and when it happened to them they didn't like it, like Eric giving away results BUT Vince was the first one to throw punches with Flair & the WCW Belt.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

No. (I'm a person, who despite realising its kayfabe, see championships as more than props.) While she had every right to run down the WWF, tossing the championship was too far. Even she felt so, but Eric Bischoff pressured her into doing it. Which is another thing to lay at Bischoff's feet, along with the non-existent WCW Women's Division he promised.

I am with you there, I believe in the belts being more than just props, I feel the idea of them as a plot device help define storylines very well. That's for another thread of course, but essentially, I didn't really find the storyline with Madusa dropping the WWF Women's Belt in the garbage to have any merit in the storyline, and it's one of those storyline decisions I would never had made if I was in Bischoff's position of power.

Because Vince at the time treated the division like crap. He was planning to take the strap off her anyway, or retire the division, which he did for a while after the incident anyway.

Amusingly enough, Vince McMahon might have done the same thing if Bischoff hadn't beaten him to the punch, considering how that division was booked for all that time during the 90s, however that still doesn't mean that I support what Eric Bischoff did either.

Except he owned that championship. It was his by right of purchase. He paid 25,000 for the belt as an investment which every champ did, was not given that investment back, and opted to take the belt to the WWF with him. It was more like a real-life Million Dollar Belt.

Now that is disputable, while I myself can't knock what Ric Flair did per se, I mean I sure as hell would have defied authority on the $25,000 interest on the belt, the fact is if it got to the point where WCW was threatening to sue WWF over the use of the Big Gold Belt in my opinion must mean that Flair never owned the belt. Fact is Vince in my opinion created the precedent for having another company's championship on his programming. I am not saying I oppose the move, but Vince should have expected that he'd find someone just as ruthless as he was in this business and for a brief time that was Eric Bischoff.

I am not siding with either party here, but just being observant and stating the obvious, WWF and WCW were both guilty of similar tactics. WCW might have escalated it, but Vince set the precedent plain and simple.

 

[Klown_Karnage]

First of all, I'll admit that this is the first I ever heard about this incident, so thank you, JACKIE, for bringing it to my attention. I'll have to take a look at this. Secondly, given the WWF/WCW competition at that time and all the things that were going on back and forth between them, I can't say I really have a problem with it. All's fair in love and war and if Medusa didn't have any plans of returning to the WWF, then more power to her. I don't think there's really a question as to whether she had a right to do it. It was her championship at that time and the WWF, not paying attention to the Women's division as usual, was in the wrong for being stupid enough not to at least book her to lose the championship before her contract was up or before signing her to a new one. Sometimes, stupid should hurt and the WWF's stupidity hurt them (although not by much. After all, they've never put much stock in the women's division anyway.)

As for Medusa herself, I say more power to her. She was basically screwed over by the WWF (at least on the surface of it) but inadvertently was given the opportunity to take some measure of revenge for it as well as striking a blow against the company she was now in competition with. It's now, apparently, a reasonably well known incident in professional wrestling history. This was Medusa's big moment and I say she's welcome to it.

 

[MisterRob]

From an interview she done not to long ago, she revealed Eric Bischoff "pushed" her to do it, she wasn't comfortable doing it but did it for the sake of her new job and to keep her employer happy.

Looking back she wished she'd of handled the situation better and not have done it as she believes it cost her a job in the long run. (which I personally agree with as she was the best womens wrestler of the 90s bar none) OH and not to forget when she dumped the belt in the trash can, it actually stayed their she wasn't able to retireve it and stated that someone got a piece of history as she had the actual belt and not a replica.

In all honesty WWE started the Champions showing up on TV with Flair back in 1992 and when it happened to them they didn't like it, like Eric giving away results BUT Vince was the first one to throw punches with Flair & the WCW Belt.

The two are entirely different, though. One, Flair actually owned the title he had with him. Two, when Flair came in with the title the WWF didn't bury WCW or the title. They certainly didn't throw it in the garbage and clearly state it was a piece of trash. Flair came in calling himself the "Real" World's champion and Bobby the Brain, Mr. Perfect, backed him up. For months they built Flair up and his title as a legitimate World title (and he a legitimate World champion), and then he even won the Royal Rumble and the WWF championship to add even more credibility to his run with the WWF. So, they used the title and they acknowledged Flair and where he came from, but they certainly didn't do it in a way that buried WCW, nor did they even did it in a way that was disrespectful or insulting.

Medusa throwing her title in the trash on WCW tv was the exact opposite and it was nothing BUT disrespectful, insulting, and a total burial and shot at WWF. It's fitting that it came back to bite Medusa in the ass.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

The two are entirely different, though. One, Flair actually owned the title he had with him. Two, when Flair came in with the title the WWF didn't bury WCW or the title. They certainly didn't throw it in the garbage and clearly state it was a piece of trash. Flair came in calling himself the "Real" World's champion and Bobby the Brain, Mr. Perfect, backed him up. For months they built Flair up and his title as a legitimate World title (and he a legitimate World champion), and then he even won the Royal Rumble and the WWF championship to add even more credibility to his run with the WWF. So, they used the title and they acknowledged Flair and where he came from, but they certainly didn't do it in a way that buried WCW, nor did they even did it in a way that was disrespectful or insulting.

That's debatable, the ownership of the Big Gold Belt that is, sure Flair might have had it in his possession, but keep in mind the title belt was being held by Flair in lieu of his deposit not being returned to him. Therefore, saying that Flair owned the belt is very questionable. After all, if he truly owned the belt he would have never given it back to WCW now would he? He got his deposit and interest back, therefore I doubt he ever owned it. From a personal standpoint, if I were Flair I would have kept the title considering that the deposit plus interest was not returned. And I do agree that WWF treated the belt with a lot of respect and that's a commendable thing, but just the same, if the story is as true as they say it is with the Big Gold Belt being on WWF TV, Vince technically broke some major rules by having a belt that does not in any way shape of form belong to him. Considering that they eventually changed the Big Gold Belt to a spare Tag Team Belt for Flair to use to perpetuate the gimmick makes me think Flair NEVER owned the belt. If Flair had actually owned the belt, then WCW never would have threatened a lawsuit to the WWF like they had. Fact is, Vince McMahon was using property that wasn't his.

Medusa throwing her title in the trash on WCW tv was the exact opposite and it was nothing BUT disrespectful, insulting, and a total burial and shot at WWF. It's fitting that it came back to bite Medusa in the ass.

Yes, it was indeed a lame move to see Medusa throw the Women's Title in the garbage, but the WWF is not a group of saints either. The entertainment business is like that by nature. Therefore, I never feel sorry for any of these companies when one pulls a pot shot on another.

 

[mulkeymania]

it was a bad move IMO but i guess it makes for good tv--eric bischoff had it right when he said controversy creates cash but its not a classy move by any means.
as far as flair owning the NWA belt--he did not but the champions were required to put up a $25000 deposit on the belt to insure that it wasnt kept and he always said he didnt get the money back so he sent it to mcmahon when he didnt get it.