>>Eric Gargiulo: Mr. Watts, welcome to 
the show.
>>Bill Watts: Eric, thank you.
Listening to 
that sound bite [at the beginning of the show],
Iíve had forgotten about the deal in Columbus,
Ohio, and what a fun thing.
I think the one really fun thing for me is
when I revisit these different programs in
the publicity aspect of the new book, you
guys are so much more up to date on everything
than I am and I can recall some fabulous memories
and I appreciate and I thank you for them.
>>Eric: My pleasure and I absolutely love
when I have legends like yourself on and I
get to go into my archives and dig up the
old clips and I just like to hear your reactions
to yourselves from the twenty to thirty years
ago.
Blears had an hour and a half of wrestling,
and in an hour and a half of wrestling they
only had two matches.
All the rest were interviews and talking and
I was blown away, but it kind of planted that
seed later that I realized people wanted to
know the celebrities, they wanted the people
that they related to, and you could only do
so much in the ring, but they wanted to know
what your personality was, what you thought,
and how you reacted and so that really gave
me an insight, later in my promotion it became
very important.
>>Eric: Thatís tremendous and when we talk
about your promotion we talk about Mid-South
and the UWF, for the younger fans listening
to the show, and nowadays, over the last couple
of years, there seems to be a big, big swing,
especially in the WWE, on scripted promos.
What are your thoughts on scripted promos?
>>Bill: Well, you know everything in the WWE
is scripted.
It was such a disappointment, the three months
I was with Vince [McMahon], Iíll never forget,
there was a problem that happened, we wonít
go into it, where everybody was late and we
were having a television shoot, and I had
two top stars and they were going to have
like a ten minute match, and they didnít
have enough time to get ready for it cause
they only had an hour before show time.
An hour for a ten minute match!
I was fractured.
I remember this one time, there was such bad
weather that planes had quit flying, I was
stuck in Littlerock on the way to Jackson,
Mississippi, I called the promoter George
Gulkin, my partner, and I said I canít make
it.
He said you got to make it, this is sold out.
And this is before we knew what a market Jackson
was.
He said itís sold out.
He said itís wall to wall, you got to get
here, can you get here.
So I chartered a (laughs) single engine [plane]
to go through this tornado.
This guy was an excellent pilot, and I was
a pilot, so we picked our way around it and
we got to the airport, it was 11 oí clock
at night, the police were waiting, police
escort to the arena, I was wrestling the Spoiler
with Gary Hart as the manager.
[We] went into the ring and had a 40 minute
match.
I mean, I ran right in, changed clothes, we
were in separate dressing rooms, changed clothes,
got in the ring, and everything was just exciting.
The people were going crazy.
They had waited till 11:30 and it was packed.
I thought to myself what would these two guys
do if they had to really earn their money
and didnít haveÖhow long would it take to
talk about a 40 minute match?
And Iím not mocking the sport; thatís what
itís become and the guys will respond to
whatever the challenge, Iím not putting them
down either.
Iím not like a bitter old timer saying itís
not as good as it was, Iím just saying that
itís a different concept and Iíve always
believed that athletes could do whatever you
needed them to do if you pushed them beyond
their comfort zone, but if you want to make
it a certain, theyíre going to take the easiest
route.
>>Eric: As a matter of fact, the only reason
Iím bringing this up now, I had it saved
for later in the interview, because itís
appropriate for what youíre talking about,
if you could tell the story, because Iíve
heard it told in interviews by yourself and
by Paul Orndorff.
There was a story, and I know thereís a clean
version youíll have to give me for the radio,
a story about Ted Dibiase and Paul Orndorff
being reluctant to go to a broadway.
>>Bill: Yeah, you got to realize, I didnít
design many broadways in my promotion or in
my career.
They had to have a special significance, because
I thought it was used as a way out of not
having anymore creativity.
There was a perfect situation between Paul
and Teddy, and we were ready to turn one of
them heel, I canít remember which one, and
this was their last match in Jackson, Mississippi,
together as babyfaces, and they knew one of
them was going to be a heel, so they were
wanting to jump the gun, but they couldnít,
even though we had already shot the television
[tapings], I think the day before, but it
hadnít gone yet.
Then when I came up for the idea of broadway,
youíd think I had taken away their last meal
from them.
And Orndorff, especially, was a fiery guy,
he and I used to disagree on so many things,
but I had a great respect for what he could
do in the ring, which again proves, youíre
not dating them, you donít have to live with
them.
As long as the guy gave me 100% in the ring,
I could sometimes put up with these other
idiosyncrasies and Orndorff and I have a great
respect and, I think, a great appreciation
for each other, now.
He called me years later and told me how much
he learned from me and of course when I went
to WCW, I hired him back to do some work there
for us, which he was excellent in doing.
To make a long story short, they were just
crushed.
So they came to me and said man, boss, we
canít do this hour.
An hour broadway as babyfaces?
Thatís so hard to do.
Can one of us go ahead and [turn heel]?
I said no.
They kept on wandering around, they kept on
coming back to me, so finally I knew it was
time to challenge them, so I said, listen
guys, I understand if you guys just donít
have quite what it takes, and Iíll lighten
the word up over the air, youíre cripples
and canít go further so if you canít make
it, you still have got to go within five minutes
into the hour and hereís a finish to get
you out of this and weíll do this finish,
but you canít make it, because you arenít
the men I thought you were.
Boy, they went out there.
They went the hour in a babyface match, and
had the audience standing and completely with
them, completely mastered the situation.
There were two new guys that came out of that
ring; there were two guys that grew that night
and realized that they could do what they
thought was impossible to do, that they could
meet the challenge and go further, and thatís
the difference, sometime they are the defining
moments.
I remember when Dusty Rhodes truly became
the American Dream in Tampa, Florida, in the
interview he did about being the son of a
plumber.
I mean, Iím sitting there watching, and goose
pimples break out on my arm and he finally
achieved where we were taking him.
So those are defining moments for people when
they grew into that person.
See, we didnít give somebody a gimmick or
a name and hope he made it; they had to grow
into it to become what they were.
They truly developed and became what they
were.
They had to carry the load.
>>Eric: Thatís a great story.
Itís so appropriate to what weíre talking
about.
From what I understand, youíre a big fan
of the mixed martial arts and Ultimate Fighting.
Am I correct?
>>Bill: Yeah, Iím enjoying that, sure.
I had a concept that I thought about doing,
I didnít have the octagon concept, but it
was definitely going to be a shoot type of
wrestling, and I had designed it and even
figured out how to franchise cities, and then
I said, thatís too expensive and I didnít
have the money or the wherewithal at the time
and I didnít know if anybody would buy it
at the time.
So itís exciting to see something of this
genre, and, yes, I do enjoy it.
>>Eric: Iíve had guys from both sports on.
I had Ken Shamrock on here and I asked Ken
if he thinks that the Ultimate Fighting Championship
can kind of compete with WWE and he said he
didnít think so.
Do you think that mixed martial arts can compete
with pro wrestling?
>>Bill: I donít think itís the same.
No.
First of all, itís being presented as a legitimate
sport and, certainly, WWE isnít.
WWE is a cartoon-character strip come to life
and itís so far removed.
You know, you may have some crossover, in
fact, the fans, certainly I think fans today
are looking for any kind of entertainment
or release or any type of idol worship they
can find, or what you want to call it, but
I think they are two different genres.
I think maybe your guys that came out of a
legitimate background in sports might be attracted
to the UFC.
Even the guys in wrestling, I bet you, that
love that type of thing, are big fans of the
UFC, but I donít see it being a conflict.
One is total entertainment and total farce
and totally scripted, we know, and the other
is pretty much, seems like, from what Iíve
seen so far, I never say never because I watched
some stuff in Japan that was presented as
being a shoot and I watched things happen
and I say oh, bologna, that was a work.
>>Eric: What has kept you away from the wrestling
business for the last dozen years or so?
>>Bill: Well, itís been a process and the
process happened to me and starting happening
in í84, when God started calling me back
to Himself and started challenging me.
It was very painful, very hard, because I
was sitting on top of the world, and when
He wants to get your attention, Heís going
to get your attention.
He started getting mine, and I was too arrogant,
too proud to bend to His will and He had to
break me.
In the process, I realized that I wanted a
way out of a way of life that I couldnít
be in both.
Thereís a saying that I like to take out
of the Old Testament in the Bible, when you
examine the light of Lot, the nephew of Abraham.
Lot was a world border, in other words, he
wanted the righteousness of God in one hand,
but he wanted to keep his cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah.
So many of us are world borders and pretty
soon it becomes relativism, instead of whatís
right and whatís wrong, and thatís whatís
impacting our culture now, that everything
is decided by relativism instead of whatís
right and whatís wrong and actually, the
seculars donít want any form of moral or
ethical conduct except by the government,
they want whatever you feel right to be right,
and thatís just not true, whether you believe
in God or not, Godís laws are absolute.
You canít break them, but you can break yourself
on them.
I was learning all of this the hard way.
I wanted my cake and eat it, too.
For me, I couldnít.
Iím not condemning anyone that is struggling
with this or not struggling with this, thatís
between them and God.
When I got out of the business, I was like
a dinosaur.
What can I do with the rest of my life?
Iíve been productive and always made money,
but I could always go back into this business
and make tremendous money.
It seemed like every time I went back, I had
all the technique and the knowledge and the
ability to do what I needed to do to be successful,
but I wasnít happy in it.
And every time I would go back, all the things
that were part of my life, they would come
back on me, so the anger, and the lust, and
all these different things, and it was just
a different way.
Iím not saying that I am holier than thou,
I am not, Iím the garbage pail of flesh,
but itís different, that I am saved by Christ,
and by being saved, I strive to be more like
Him and reflect the love, see, Iím drawn
to His love, not out of fear.
The fear gained my respect, but itís the
love of Christ, and how He loved me enough
to die for me on the cross thatís changing
my life and continues to change my life.
Iíll be in this process until the day I die.
I love to talk about what happened; Iím not
ashamed of it, you canít hide it.
Was it a good role model?
Well, compared to todayís stuff, yes it was,
but it still wasnít.
It was a dysfunctional business, and all the
families that were in it were dysfunctional,
including my own.
I used to think I was a good father, until
I looked back and realized itís not what
you tell your kids what they learn, itís
what they see and do.
So if Iím saying, son, donít drink and drive,
and he said, dad, you got a beer and youíre
doing a 100 miles an hour, and I say, I can
handle it, by gosh, we drink every night going
up and down the highway, all the cops know
us, what a message that Iím sending to my
kid.
Itís a message of relativism, that itís
okay for me to do it, but not them.
>>Eric: Did you find writing the book to be
a real therapeutic thing for you?
>>Bill: Realize Eric, I never wanted to write
this book?
>>Eric: How did that come about?
>>Bill: People came about and were always
asking me to write.
To me, I thought to write a book about myself
and wrestling, itís just another method for
me to do self-aggrandizement.
In other words, I donít know if anyone writing
a book about himself in wrestling isnít putting
himself over.
I didnít want to do that, and most of the
stories, I would have liked to have told,
would have someone in it theyíd hurt.
Finally, Scott Williams came to me, turns
out, Scottís a Christian, and he came to
this project.
I said, Scott, if I can write this book about
wrestling with a higher purpose, a purpose
where I give something back, a purpose where
I reveal that every choice we make in life
has a consequence, and if I can show these
snapshots of my life, and try to explain,
how I made these choices and their consequencesÖWe
got a problem in the human race.
We have a terminal disease thatís mortality.
The current death rate is 100%.
We donít like to think about death, especially
our own, yet worldwide, 3 people die every
second, 180 every minute, and 11,000 an hour.
That brings up a huge question, where are
we going to spend eternity?
And if you think thatís all there is to life,
and you are just going to burn up and go to
oblivion, then live your life.
There was guy named Pascal, who was 17th century
mathematician, and he said, let me paraphrase
it, I would rather live my life as if there
is a god, and then die and find out there
isnít, than to live my life as if there isnít
a god, and then die and found out there is.
We need to battle our culture for our children
and their children and for the fact that we
can present that there is absolute truth and
you donít need everything based on relativism,
or cultural impact, or society.
Thereís right and wrong.
If I could write this book, showing the snapshot
of my life, and open my heart up and reveal
myself, than I was for it.
Thatís what we did and, yeah, it was hard,
reliving it was fun.
It was kind of like when JYD (Junkyard Dog)
died, and Buddy Landel asked me to write a
eulogy for him that he wanted to read at JYDís
funeral.
When I sat down and wrote that, I realized
that I had never told JYD how much I loved
him and cared for him.
He and I broke up when he went to WWF, at
the time.
The way he left was such a double-cross with
our relationship that it hurt deeply and then
he got hooked on the various substance abuses
and later told me when I was in Atlanta, that
he made all that money and taken it up his
nose or whatever you want to say.
Here he was, hooked on crack.
Bless his heart; this kid was a great kid.
Choices and consequences.
So I tried to use him again by telling him
how to get back in shape, but he just couldnít
get back in shape, so I couldnít use him.
When he died, what I missed, I never told
him how much I loved him, how important he
was, and how my life was blessed by that period
of time that he was in my life.
That changed me, too.
I started to tell people that have come into
my life.
Since I believe in a sovereign lord, I believe
there are no random events, I donít believe
anything happens by accident, I think everythingís
for a purpose.
Do I think I understand the purpose?
No, but I have to be opened to it and I realize
people are brought into my life for a time
or a season and thereís a meaning for that,
so I want to tell those that I have cared
for, how deeply Iíve cared for them and how
blessed my life has been with their participation
in my life.
That sort of changed my life and I was able
to let go of a lot of anger and a lot of harbored
grievance.
Iím a great file builder.
I was one of these guys that had to build
a file in my mind so I had to reason to appeal
to my logic to how I treated you.
Isnít it funny, when you live by Christ rule
and Christ model, you donít have to build
any files because you treat people the way
theyíre supposed to be treated.
>>Eric: Thatís interesting, I would never
have thought of it that way.
>>Bill: So, itís been a wonderful, ongoing
process.
Hard at times.
Isnít it amazing, by the definition of God,
if God is God, than He is sovereign.
Look up the definition of sovereign, it means
in total control and then we argue with ourselves
whether or not to submit to him.
Thatís only a dumb wrestler, whose been dropped
on his head too many times, to have to stop
and think that if the man upstairs could snuff
you at any minute, and you have a problem
putting him over?
>>Eric: What do you think about listening
to 
that promo?
>>Bill: The one thing about it, everything
Iíve done in life, Iíve done with passion.
Another thing, I realized a long time ago
that you had to believe and feel what you
said and what you did, so whether you were
a villain or a babyface, to me you had to
have a lot of truth in your approach and in
your interview.
Thatís what always made the interview so
easy for me, whatever I said, itís how I
felt it.
>>Eric: Do you think thatís why a lot of
true athletes, who you recruited, specifically
like Doc and Duggan, do you think thatís
why they were such good promos because as
athletes they already had that passion already
inbred in them?
>>Bill: Someone was asking me on a show the
other day to name the oneís that I thought
were underrated, and itís so hard to do.
Each story to me is a personal story, but
the bottom line is that I can remember people
that I thought were horrible, excuse me, I
shouldnít say that.
They were not really great quote workers in
the ring, but by the force of their personality,
by their promos, they just literally demanded
your respect because they projected their
internal person as to who they were.
For one that quickly comes to mind is Mad
Dog Vachon.
Mad Dog Maurice Vachon was so tough as a human
being that he demanded, and you could feel
that demand in him as far as when he presented
himself and what he was going to do to his
opponent, there was no doubt in your mind
how tough he was.
Mad Dog Vachon was a tough, tough human being.
Mad Dog Vachon was a tough human being.
Iíve seen him in a couple of the tough street
situations, he just overcame things and I
was just blown away and impressed by him.
Iím glad to say that I got to know him, and
I had nothing but the greatest respect for
him, and yet, in the ring, I never knew what
he was going to do.
Sometimes (laughing) you would have a fairly
ordinary match and sometimes you wouldnít.
Even his brother Paul and he, they were notorious
how they would be screaming and cussing each
other out in French during a tag-team match.
Paul was so level and easy going that some
people would say Paul was not near as tough
or intense as Mad Dog, I have to disagree.
That whole family was tough.
Paul was just a different personality.
>>Eric: ÖPretty much anyone that is a hardcore
wrestling fan has seen UWF, still to this
day, my personal favorite, as the owner of
the company, why do you think it failed?
Why do you think you had to end up selling
to Jim Crockett?
>>Bill: First of all, I wanted to get out
of it anyway, but the impact that decided
it wasnít competition, the impact that decided
it was the oil situation.
Iíll never forget the Sheik in Detroit, one
time when his business was really down, and
he was complaining because the car industry
was in such a spin cycle.
Our down turn, he was blaming it on the car
industry and I thought what does that have
to do with wrestling?
Well, when the oil industry had its crunch-
what youíve got to realize is when a stateís
economy is set up to where a 20 dollar barrel
of oil is break even, and oil drops to twelve
bucks a barrel, that the stateís economy
goes broke, everything around it was broke,
so when that happened in the oil states, all
entertainment ceased to come.
When you had country, western, rock-and-roll,
and every form of entertainment cancelled
and no longer coming to the state because
they couldnít draw any money, it was a crisis.
You had banks go broke, airlines gone broke.
So my syndicate, his bank owned some of the
big, big hotels in Houston and Dallas.
Now, Iím not talking about Motel 8, Iím
talking about big hotels.
He went broke.
The guy ended up owning me 80 grand and I
needed that money to operate, because as we
were expanding out, we needed our base income
in order to feed the thing.
We ran Oklahoma City and Tulsa every two weeks.
We were averaging $100,000 a show, which,
I donít know if thatís big by todayís standards,
but back in the late 80ís, that was a huge
show in a town about 600 people.
We were doing 40 to 60 thousand in Tulsa every
second week.
When the oil crunch hit and really took hold,
we dropped to 14,000 dollars a show in Oklahoma
City and for some strange reason, Tulsa continued
to do like 18 to 20 thousand, but it dropped
by almost a half.
All of a sudden, you are looking at all your
things that you used to analyze your business
and none of them make any sense, so youíre
blaming it on your partners, youíre blaming
it on this, youíre blaming it on that, but
the bottom line is, there was no way to read
why your business was no longer functioning,
so you blamed it on yourself, and this, that,
and the other.
In reality, it was this giant mega-trend that
hit, that annihilated the entertainment business
in the states, and I mean completely and for
some time.
Iíll never forget the time we found out initially,
we had a guy that was the advanced publicity
guy who was from our office, who used to go
to the major cities like New Orleans, before
the Superdome, and would do a last minute
blitz on the media.
He called me to tell me that he had gone through
every single yellow page ad in the New Orleans
telephone book and that all the escort services
were no longer in business, because I guess
he was looking for a certain type of escort
to thrill him that evening.
Every single one of them was out of business
and he couldnít hire a lady of the night.
So I thought, what are you telling me this
for?
What it was, when I got down and met him,
we went and searched in the French Quarter,
not because I was looking for a woman, I was
trying to validate what he said and we found
there wasnít a single [one].
What that meant was that there were no entertainment
dollars, it dried up.
We did for that show, what our advance was.
Our total gate was what our advance did.
We had probably the best card we had and Crockett
was our partner in this one to bring in some
bigger talent.
And Crockettís looking at me like, you did
a lousy job of promoting and Iím offended
by that and all these different things.
Because we had no way of understanding we
were caught in this mega-trend, that totally
changed our business as far as this period
of time.
It was a very devastating period of time,
of course, at the same time, I wanted to get
out of the business anyway, it just seemed
like it was a good idea to continue along
with that.
It wasnít due to the competition.
Every time Vince brought the WWE- he was the
first one who told me that when I went for
those three months to work for him- is that
every time he came to my area, he got his
fanny handed to him.
We took him apart and completely kicked his
little rear with our promotion.
Jim Ross was very intuitive of that.
He had a great knack for that.
So Vince wasnít hurting us at all.
Where he was hurting us was the predatory
practice which, of course, is always quote
denied, where he was stealing our talent.
If thereís anybody that ever, of course we
donít see anymore, where thereís not much
government intervention, and thatís kind
of a shame, because corporations are getting
bigger, bigger, and bigger, and itíll leave
more and more people squeezed as the corporation
gets stronger and stronger and the people
have less rights, but you donít hear anymore
federal anti-trust suits.
Those are predatory practices, when you come
in.
And if there was anybody whoever had a predatory
practice against them, to me it was Verne
Gagne.
Hereís a guy that comes in and hires all
his top talent out from under him, including
his commentators.
Now, hereís Verne appearing on his show.
Itís time to let go of it, itís too late
to undo it.
But the bottom line is that was what really
happened and Verne was one area that he targeted
to really put out of business, more so than
he did me.
Vince didnít put me out of business, but
thatís what happened.
>>Eric: When I 
had Dusty on the show, I asked him why he
never did a huge invasion angle with the UWF.
>>Bill: (Laughing) I wonder why Dusty would
act like he didnít understand what you were
saying.
>>Eric: His answer was ëwell, it was logistics.
They were here, we were there.î
>>Bill: Bologna.
Bless his heart and bless Crockettís heart.
I just didnít know that Crockett was that
stupid.
Here was something that was tailor made.
One thing I learned through the deal with
Gunkel, competition breeds awareness.
You can have competition and it would be better
for both.
I had even told Crockett and I said, you are
in a perfect position here to have your own
in house competition that would create huge
interest in your product by bringing my deal
against the NWA deal.
He seemed to embrace that, but you got to
realize, and I donít know how much charity
I need to lay here, Crockett didnít know
how to book.
He never booked.
He couldnít book.
He was at the mercy of his booker, and Dusty
is a brilliant person, but if you look at
Florida, it went broke under Dusty and every
place he touched went broke because as good
as he was at drawing gross gates, he had no
consciousness of a bottom line, whether it
could be laid at his feet because nobody had
ever taught him or whatever, he had no consciousness
of a bottom line, so nothing was bottom line
oriented.
It was just what he dreamed of today.
There was not ever a lot of continuity, so
he couldnít have followed something like
that anyway, honest to goodness, without strong
leadership because thatís not where he was
geared emotionally.
He was a tremendous, tremendous talent in
the right situation, but he was never geared
to be running an operation like that, in my
opinion.
Crockett couldnít make the tough management
decisions necessary to rein it in, so instead
caved in and- I mean, why do you need a six
passenger jet in the wrestling business?
So Crockett had me on [as] consultant, which
was a smart way of paying me off, turned out
to bite me in the rear, and I used to say,
well, youíre paying me, so let me send you
some things that I see are going to happen
to you, that youíre really going in the wrong
direction in, you donít have to listen to
them and he wouldnít even do that.
He totally ignored me.
He stonewalled me.
Thatís what somebody does, generally speaking,
when theyíre going down the tube.
They start stonewalling anything else.
In other words, how many sports teams you
see, itís us against the world?
No, itís not you against the world; itís
what you choose to do, because youíre going
to stonewall the world, because you donít
have the answers.
The only time itís them against the world,
when theyíre not doing well.
And when theyíre going down the tube, it
makes it really convenient to say itís us
against the world.
It is not us against the world- that is some
coachís demented philosophy to rally his
troops and hopefully hold them to where they
(laughs) donít pay attention to whatís going
on in life.
>>Eric: I was just watching an interview with
Bill Dundee, he was talking about when he
booked for you, he said that he booked a program
with him and a midget and he said that you
were against the program from the beginning,
but eventually it got to the point where you
had a meeting with the boys and you said,
boys, weíre being outdrawn by a bunch of
midgets.
Is that true?
>>Bill: If Dundee said it, I wouldnít say
it wasnít, but I donít remember it.
I donít remember which program it was.
Dundee was a midget!
(Laughs) In so many ways, yet he had a brilliant
mind, so a challenge for me was because Dundee
wanted to get in the ring so bad was to keep
him out of the ring.
If he hadnít been my booker, he wouldíve
tried to get Andre the Giant to do a job for
him.
But Dundee was a brilliant guy and a great
guy.
I find him as a man of personal integrity
and I love the time that I spent with him
and I tried a lot of things with him and Iíd
say 90% of them worked.
Iíve got nothing but the highest regard for
Dundee.
I will always tease him and have fun with
him.
The truth of the matter is, Dundee was not
a big guy so he had that small manís concept
of many things, and it just wouldnít have
fit.
I couldnít have had him go out there and
beat Dr. Death; heíd end up getting stuff
in a basket if he wasnít my booker.
>>Eric: I liked in that promo, you didnít
have to yell and scream, but I could still
sense the emotion coming out of you.
>>Bill: It was an emotional play of life.
Iíd like to take a lot of credit for our
promotion at the time, we tried always to
come back and still have high moral and ethical
value and realize we were in a dysfunctional
business and we were certainly deceived by
our own thoughts in trying to justify without
even thinking about.
Iím looking back now with that hindsight,
but still we had a higher responsibility;
we realized we were dealing with an audience
that was designed to address children.
So we always tried to keep in mind that our
audience was a family audience.
When people ask me today about the business
today and what are my thoughts on it- I asked
somebody one question, this person happened
to be a Christian asking me about it, I said
stop and please tell me 10 things it does
that are pro-God.
Thatís too hard, 8 things, 1 thing.
Let me make it even secular, tell me one thing
that your child can watch pro wrestling today
and see that you would want them to learn
morally or ethically.
Would it be how they treat authority?
Would it be how they treat women, as the opposite
sex?
Would it be how they ridicule God?
Would it be how they represent a people that
are obviously, and I donít know, I donít
watch their program, but I know whoís on
it, that are obviously taking steroids?
Tell me one thing.
Itís like Stone Cold Steve Austin.
How about when you finally come home someday,
and you are trying to discipline your kid
and he shoots you a double finger?
>>Eric tells a story about how he was at a
WWE house show eight years back and saw a
parents with kids wearing Austin middle finger
t-shirts.
>>Bill: When your child then, some point youíre
trying to discipline him, and thatís his
answer to you is that double finger, well
my dear father or mother, or whoever it is,
you reap what you sew.
We canít tell our children, donít do as
I do, do as I say.
Children learn by what they see, not by, necessarily,
what they hear when it comes to about setting
a moral and ethical value.
So again we tried to always have, and Iím
sitting here with hindsight, because our shows
were pretty tough, too, but we always had
that standard, just like that thing that as
you heard me say, if it got too much because
of what happened, we were going to put our
own slide up.
Realize, psychologically, that slide was a
great effect, but it also said, we are not
going to expose families to some of these
things if we feel they are beyond the taste
or how a family should be.
We are going to respect that.
To me, if the promotion allows everything
to happen and doesnít stop or stand for anything
than the promotion is corrupt.
So we tried to maintain a balance and it was
really brought home to me in a lesson I learned
from Eddie Graham in Florida.
I was down there and I was the booker.
I was also working and had a top slot to work
in, because anyone who was a decent booker
that wrestled was going to push himself because
first of all he knew himself better than anyone
else.
He said, look, Bill, for long term effectiveness,
you need to make your own angle, maybe not
the key angle, but keep it healthy, I know
you have that drive and you certainly earned
that right because every place youíve ever
been youíve been on top, but you have to
learn how to develop other talent and develop
their angle.
A lot of times, I figured out I could get
over by talking.
So I got myself established on television,
but then Iíd come and interrupt Gordon Solie,
who was the host of our show.
It got to be more and more and pretty soon,
Iím denigrating him, Iím kind of putting
him down on his own show.
Because I was his boss, in a way, he had to
go for it, and I donít know if he told Eddie,
or he complained to Eddie, that Bill is coming
in and interrupting me so much, but anyway,
Eddie called me.
Eddie was always so smooth to you.
He called you first and it was always like
a social call, and he was going to lead around
to where he was going.
He was such a master at it.
I used to think, come on, Eddie, youíre not
passing the time of day.
Thatís how he talked, and he was so good
at it and Iím so appreciative and I learned
so much.
Finally, he said, you know, Bill, I was just
wondering, what if you went on the Johnny
Carson show.
Itís the hottest show in America today.
And what if you insulted Johnny Carson and
ridiculed him and kept interrupting him.
How long do you think youíd be on the show?
I said, not long, heíd take you right off
the show, heíd call a commercial break and
youíd be gone.
He said, do you think you would ever be invited
back?
I said, no, no way.
He said, Gordon Solie, everyone knows that
he is an employee of this company, and youíre
the booker, and you own part of the offices,
I brought you in as that position.
He said, so you have a lot sway over whatís
going on, so Gordon, in a way, is working
for you and with you.
So when you walk out there, heís still our
voice of Florida Championship Wrestling.
When you denigrate him on the show, you kill
any credibility he has, and if you kill off
the credibility that he has, than you are
killing the credibility of the promotion.
What a lesson.
You never saw anybody on any of my shows,
ever be able to personally denigrate the announcer.
Also, conversely, you never saw any announcer
that could make himself bigger than the wrestlers,
because it was the wrestlers that were putting
a fanny every seventeen inches, not the commentator.
>>Eric: Öwhat are your thoughts on the way
Jim Ross has been treated by the WWE?
>>Bill: First of all, Iím not close enough
to know, because I donít watch it.
I donít watch wrestling anymore; I havenít
watched it for a long time.
Jim is someone I have a great deal of affection
for, because Jim earned his position with
me.
I hired Jim out of college, and then when
I left he was working for Leroy, he put up
the ring, he refereed, he did it all.
I found out he had a great background in radio
and sales, so when he came back with me, he
earned his way.
He earned his way because he always had ideas.
Jim Ross loves this business.
But nothing was given to him.
You earned your way in our business at that
time.
You didnít walk in and were given something.
So, Jim earned it all.
He became my commentator, he became my syndicate,
and he became my right hand man.
Iíll say this, Jim has continued, and I donít
know how long he has been under contract with
Vince, I think something like 10 years, and
he has been completely loyal to Vince.
He has been totally loyal to Vince.
I think from just what I heard that he is
very hurt by how little value that seemed
to have.
He thought that he earned a certain loyalty
and a certain position with Vince and that
was not carried forward and Vince thought
that he could demean or crush Jim at any moment,
which, well, everyone says itís a work, well,
it is, but gosh darn it, Jimís that kind
of guy, that if heís given me that much of
his time- Let me tell you something, when
a guy that was a main eventer, and leaving
me, Iíd still want to be sure that he knew
how he was going to leave, because I understood
that he could say no.
Certainly, I already exercised that if I were
leaving your area, you better come talk to
me about how you wanted me to leave, donít
assume thatís itís because it was your area
that I was going to fold up and let you do
anything that you wanted to do to me on the
leaving, you better make sure.
First of all, I understood that there was
no one able to make me do anything that was
established a long time ago.
Jim, I think, feels after all this loyalty,
which he certainly had earned and has proven
time and time again- Jimís always been loyal
to anyone heís ever worked for, and he thought
that possibly it deserved a little more consideration.
Again, thatís me on the outside looking in.
I have no idea to the inner imaginations 
of Vinceís company or anything else, because
I donít look at it.
But when youíre in a corrupt hen house, what
do you expect?
