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the nature boy
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I pulled this off of a wrestling magazine
In one of the most revealing interviews ever conducted
about the true backstage behavior of the WWF and it's
employees, former WWF referee Billy Silverman appeared
on the Get in the Ring radio show earlier this week
and explained why he quit the WWF so soon after being
absorbed from Turner's WCW.
Silverman is confronted about quitting the WWF over a few
harmless "ribs". Silverman responds by calling the
pranks anything but "harmless" and likens them to
fraternity hazing. As a member of a fraternity I can attest
to the fact that we don't do anything quite so bizarre to
new members.
Billy quickly touches on the "first class
upgrade" scandal that he became entrenched in earlier
in the year. Silverman claimed that in WCW, anyone who
wished to spend the money could upgrade to first-class
accommodations, which is the way upgrades go with most
normal people. Well, little did Billy know that the WWF
"superstars" were far from normal people, and
treated him as an egotist for wanting that slightly bigger
seat and an additional bag of airline peanuts. Billy claimed
that he had no knowledge of this unwritten law and would not
have upgraded if he was aware it would ruffle feathers.
Billy continues to discuss the darker side of the WWF,
and brings up Charles Robinson, another former WCW
referee who you may remember as man Ric Flair worked a
program with a few years ago.
I have had the privilege of meeting Charles Robinson and
he is a true gentleman and truly has a love for the business
that isn't seen often. He has undergone a lot of personal
problems involving illness and his family over the last two
years and his story is quite inspirational.
According to Silverman, Robinson is chief target of the
"boys" and their "harmless ribs", and
Billy continues to go into detail about one rib in
particular that disturbed him. While preparing in the arena
hours before a show, some of the boys snuck up on Robinson,
held him down, stripped him of all his clothing, bound him
with tape and gagged his mouth. Robinson was then attached
to a cart and wheeled into the middle of the arena and
paraded around in front of the ring crew while everyone
laughed heartily.
Honestly, this story sickens me and really makes me
question the humanity of 300lb WWF employees bullying around
a pint-sized referee and sexually demeaning him. Weird
stories of quasi-homosexuality are always coming out of the
WWF and it really makes me wonder exactly what kind of
backstage behavior is deemed "acceptable" by the
organization.
Silverman brings up Bradshaw next, and explains
how Bradshaw threatened him with violence if he didn't
oblige to carrying large amounts of Bradshaw's liquor across
the Canadian border. Robinson suffered back injury from
carrying all of Bradhsaw's bottles and the boys forced him
to serve them the alcohol as well when the plane landed.
Robinson calls Bradshaw a self-appointed "chief of
police" in the WWF, while I call Bradshaw a bully,
extremely overrated, and a pretty fucked up human being.
Robinson took this matter to a member of management who's
exact response was "Just do what Bradshaw tells you
too".
Robinson also named Chris Jericho and Teddy Long as being
heavily involved in the hazing.
Silverman claimed that Stacy Kiebler takes an enormous
amount of ribbing by the boys as well, and the tone in
Silverman's voice really makes me concerned about the well
being of not just Stacy, but any woman in an environment
with a good number of complete loose cannons.
Silverman emphasized that the majority of the wrestlers
are great guys but never stand up for victims of locker room
abuse. Genuinely nice guys according to Silverman include
Ron Simmons and the Undertaker.
Silverman ends the interview by saying that he quit the
WWF because he didn't want to have to go through such crap
at work every day, and he feels for Charles Robinson who had
it much worse than he did.
There are always two sides to every story, but I have a
hard time believing that Silverman would just invent a story
that would be so humiliating to himself. Every time I hear
someone rant and rave about how "businesslike" the
WWF is, I can't help but keep these stories in the back on
my head. What other major corporation turns their back to
employees humiliating the new guy, or large employees
threatening 160lb coworkers with physical harm if they don't
smuggle liquor across the border? It's ridiculous, a lot of
the "boys" sound like just that, spoiled and
overpaid children bullying around any one they can.
I don't know the whole story and never will, but if he is
telling the truth I sincerely hope he is working on a
lawsuit right now to throw at the management who's official
stance was "Just do whatever Bradshaw tells you",
because that is no way to treat a loyal and hardworking
employee.
More on WWF Hazing:
"Sometimes it was relatively harmless stuff like
padlocking your bags to a chair. Sometimes it went way
across the line. One time they got a guy who had just
entered the company, but who was already fairly well known,
and caught him in the shower. They hogtied him and
taped his mouth and poured baby oil all over him and told
him they were going to rape him. They kept it up until
he broke down crying and then they let him go. There
was quite an audience gathered around and the guy was
totally embarrassed and humiliated."
Again, the physical and mental abuse handed out by WWF
employees goes well past good natured fun. This behavior is
highly abnormal and I honestly find it to be quite sadistic.
The inmates are clearly running the asylum and they are
running it with extremely warped homosexual overtones.
In one of the most revealing interviews ever conducted
about the true backstage behavior of the WWF and it's
employees, former WWF referee Billy Silverman appeared
on the Get in the Ring radio show earlier this week
and explained why he quit the WWF so soon after being
absorbed from Turner's WCW.
Silverman is confronted about quitting the WWF over a few
harmless "ribs". Silverman responds by calling the
pranks anything but "harmless" and likens them to
fraternity hazing. As a member of a fraternity I can attest
to the fact that we don't do anything quite so bizarre to
new members.
Billy quickly touches on the "first class
upgrade" scandal that he became entrenched in earlier
in the year. Silverman claimed that in WCW, anyone who
wished to spend the money could upgrade to first-class
accommodations, which is the way upgrades go with most
normal people. Well, little did Billy know that the WWF
"superstars" were far from normal people, and
treated him as an egotist for wanting that slightly bigger
seat and an additional bag of airline peanuts. Billy claimed
that he had no knowledge of this unwritten law and would not
have upgraded if he was aware it would ruffle feathers.
Billy continues to discuss the darker side of the WWF,
and brings up Charles Robinson, another former WCW
referee who you may remember as man Ric Flair worked a
program with a few years ago.
I have had the privilege of meeting Charles Robinson and
he is a true gentleman and truly has a love for the business
that isn't seen often. He has undergone a lot of personal
problems involving illness and his family over the last two
years and his story is quite inspirational.
According to Silverman, Robinson is chief target of the
"boys" and their "harmless ribs", and
Billy continues to go into detail about one rib in
particular that disturbed him. While preparing in the arena
hours before a show, some of the boys snuck up on Robinson,
held him down, stripped him of all his clothing, bound him
with tape and gagged his mouth. Robinson was then attached
to a cart and wheeled into the middle of the arena and
paraded around in front of the ring crew while everyone
laughed heartily.
Honestly, this story sickens me and really makes me
question the humanity of 300lb WWF employees bullying around
a pint-sized referee and sexually demeaning him. Weird
stories of quasi-homosexuality are always coming out of the
WWF and it really makes me wonder exactly what kind of
backstage behavior is deemed "acceptable" by the
organization.
Silverman brings up Bradshaw next, and explains
how Bradshaw threatened him with violence if he didn't
oblige to carrying large amounts of Bradshaw's liquor across
the Canadian border. Robinson suffered back injury from
carrying all of Bradhsaw's bottles and the boys forced him
to serve them the alcohol as well when the plane landed.
Robinson calls Bradshaw a self-appointed "chief of
police" in the WWF, while I call Bradshaw a bully,
extremely overrated, and a pretty fucked up human being.
Robinson took this matter to a member of management who's
exact response was "Just do what Bradshaw tells you
too".
Robinson also named Chris Jericho and Teddy Long as being
heavily involved in the hazing.
Silverman claimed that Stacy Kiebler takes an enormous
amount of ribbing by the boys as well, and the tone in
Silverman's voice really makes me concerned about the well
being of not just Stacy, but any woman in an environment
with a good number of complete loose cannons.
Silverman emphasized that the majority of the wrestlers
are great guys but never stand up for victims of locker room
abuse. Genuinely nice guys according to Silverman include
Ron Simmons and the Undertaker.
Silverman ends the interview by saying that he quit the
WWF because he didn't want to have to go through such crap
at work every day, and he feels for Charles Robinson who had
it much worse than he did.
There are always two sides to every story, but I have a
hard time believing that Silverman would just invent a story
that would be so humiliating to himself. Every time I hear
someone rant and rave about how "businesslike" the
WWF is, I can't help but keep these stories in the back on
my head. What other major corporation turns their back to
employees humiliating the new guy, or large employees
threatening 160lb coworkers with physical harm if they don't
smuggle liquor across the border? It's ridiculous, a lot of
the "boys" sound like just that, spoiled and
overpaid children bullying around any one they can.
I don't know the whole story and never will, but if he is
telling the truth I sincerely hope he is working on a
lawsuit right now to throw at the management who's official
stance was "Just do whatever Bradshaw tells you",
because that is no way to treat a loyal and hardworking
employee.
More on WWF Hazing:
"Sometimes it was relatively harmless stuff like
padlocking your bags to a chair. Sometimes it went way
across the line. One time they got a guy who had just
entered the company, but who was already fairly well known,
and caught him in the shower. They hogtied him and
taped his mouth and poured baby oil all over him and told
him they were going to rape him. They kept it up until
he broke down crying and then they let him go. There
was quite an audience gathered around and the guy was
totally embarrassed and humiliated."
Again, the physical and mental abuse handed out by WWF
employees goes well past good natured fun. This behavior is
highly abnormal and I honestly find it to be quite sadistic.
The inmates are clearly running the asylum and they are
running it with extremely warped homosexual overtones.
