DISCLAIMER:
WrestleZone.com readers, after reading the following column, please email me whether you think the author, Michael Moody, should “Stay” or “Go” as a columnist here on WrestleZone.com. You can email me at [email protected].
“Confessions of a Pro Wrestling Filmmaker”
By: Michael Moody
For those of you that aren’t familiar with me, my name is Michael Moody and I’m the producer/director that made the New Jack: Hardcore documentary and 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler. Ever since I was about 16 years old I’ve been reading wrestling news here at WrestleZone.com and more than often I now enjoy reading wrestling news more than watching actual pro wrestling on TV. As sad as that is, it’s true. The wrestling business has really been depressing for myself over the past few years with story lines that suck and the people in creative being out of touch with today’s fans. WWE and TNA just don’t really understand what we want to watch. Hopefully things change soon for the better.
When I was younger I would always listen to the WCW Live web show that aired before Nitro would be shown on television. I was a hardcore fan back then, listening to interviews, reading news, doing anything I could to learn about the business that interested me so much. I’ve always been a creative guy, writing movie scripts, television shows, cartoons and of course shooting videos and making documentaries. I’ve produced over 20 documentaries with 10 of them being released in stores. I actually graduated high school by getting my last 5 credits by producing a positive documentary about marijuana that included the famous cultural icon, Jack Herer. Now how many people can say they graduated high school by doing that?
So back in the day I used to call into WCW Live and give them suggestions and ideas and I would always tell Bob Ryder and Jeremy Borash that WCW should use the 3 story cage from the movie Ready To Rumble on a live broadcast of Nitro. Bob and Jeremy would always dismiss my ideas and suggestions but sometimes they showed interest. After suggesting using the 3 story cage several times, I finally read online that WCW was going to use the cage on an upcoming Nitro broadcast. I was stoked that my idea was finally going to become a reality.
So the day came. Finally WCW was going to use the 3 story cage on a live broadcast of Monday Night Nitro. The match was pretty good and it drew a very high rating, and if memory serves me right, WCW actually had more viewers than WWE during that match’s time slot. This was during the period of time when WCW was being slaughtered in the ratings by WWE. To be totally honest, I was just glad that an idea I had was finally used by WCW but you’d never guess what happened next.
I was reading wrestling news at WrestleZone.com a few days later and I read about how Bob Ryder was taking credit for the concept of using the 3 story cage on Nitro. I thought it was pretty disrespectful that Bob took credit for the idea but that’s the entertainment business for you. I would then call into WCW Live several times to talk to Bob about why he took credit for the idea but Jeremy Borash would just hang up the phone every time I called (really professional Jeremy). Pretty pathetic on their part, but it was WCW so everything was pathetic, especially that jobber named Disco Inferno, but I’ll save that for another column.
It was at that time I decided to call up Dave Meltzer’s online radio show to rant about how Bob stole my idea and I did just that. I literally tore Bob and a Jeremy a pair of new butt holes on Meltzer’s show and at the end of the phone call I asked Meltzer, âYou know where WCW belongs?â It was at that moment I put the phone in the bowl of my toilet and flushed.
WCW went down the toilet just like I said but maybe if Jeremy and Bob used more of my ideas, WCW could have had some more ratings success, but who truly knows? Nobody.
Moving onto other things… A lot of people email me and ask about my experiences with pro wrestlers, especially my experiences with New Jack. New Jack and me were always cool with each other and we were genuine friends but we’ve lost contact with each other for the past 2 years. New Jack literally changes his cell phone number every month for reasons unknown. I’ll never forget the day that me and New Jack got tore up drunk at Hamurger Hamlet on Hollywood Boulevard which is where I shot his interview for 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler. Only regret I have about that day is that I drove drunk about 45 miles back to the hotel where New Jack was staying at, but luckily it was a safe drive. Word to the wise though kids, never drive drunk, I don’t do that anymore and I strongly suggest you don’t either and if you doubt me, just look at that loser named Nick Hogan.
So when New Jack and I got back to his hotel room he insisted that I didn’t drive home because we had to shoot more footage for the documentary the next morning. So I stayed in New Jack’s hotel room and slept on the couch. The thoughts running through my head were crazy. I was thinking, âIs New Jack going to take out a fork and stab me in the forehead in the middle of the night while I’m sleeping? Or will he beat me unconscious with a baseball bat similar to how he destroyed that 70 something year old man named Gypsy Joe.â Fortunately I woke up the next morning alive.
You’d never guess what New Jack watches on the television though. New Jack is an addict when it comes to watching CNN. I thought New Jack would want to watch The Worlds Most Dangerous Police Chases or South Park or something like that. That’s when I realized that New Jack is more than meets the eye. He doesn’t just stab people and almost kill them, but he’s also interested in politics.
Some other interesting facts about New Jack that I can share is that the guy loves seafood. Every time I took him out to eat he would always order the most expensive seafood dish on the menu. New Jack will also take advantage of hopeless ring rats that are anxious to sleep with a famous pro wrestler. New Jack does not smoke marijuana but he’ll drink like a fish before a pro wrestling match. Literally, every time I’ve hung out with New Jack, drinking alcohol was definitely involved.
And most importantly, New Jack does have home sex videos of himself in action. Trust me, I know. He accidentally sent me one of his home sex videos when he sent me footage to produce the New Jack: Hardcore DVD. I’ll never forget how funny it was thinking about what would happen if I put the video online for the wrestling community to watch but then I realized that the guy would probably kill me, so I declined to do that.
One thing I can say about New Jack though is that he genuinely cares about his friends. A couple of years ago when I was going through a lot of problems, New Jack told me that if I ever needed somebody to talk to, he was there for me. New Jack is a really good guy, so just because you might see him really beating up senior citizens with baseball bats or cutting some kids forehead and slicing open a vital artery with a knife ridiculously deep to the point he could have died, just remember that he’s really a good guy.
I hope you enjoyed my debut column and if you guys want to read more stories about my wacky experiences with pro wrestlers and my opinions on the wrestling industry, let WrestleZone.com know that you want Michael Moody on the website. If so, my next column will be about the infamous footage of Big Babi Slymm punching me in the face. Was it a work or was it real? I’ll let you know the truth. I’ll also tell you the story of DDP threatening to sue me for using his interview in 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler and the result of what happened.
The Hollymood Entertainment website is down right now due to the construction of a new website design but if you want to purhcase New Jack: Hardcore or 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler, send me an email to [email protected] and I’ll help you out with that. You can watch a collection of pro wrestling video interviews and trailers for my productions at http://youtube.com/user/slowdive626 so make sure you check that out and feel free to give some feedback. Take care and thanks for reading.
