It’s episode 175 and The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling is ready to dance with “the devil himself” as the one and only “Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan joins today’s program. From his iconic feuds with “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes in Florida to his emergence as the lead creative force behind WCW, John and Chad get all the inside scoop from the “booker-man” and get ready to play with fire.
Below are some interview highlights, with a H/T to John & Chad for the transcription.
Flaws in WWE’s current booking:
I happen to watch the other night and I flipped RAW on and the second hour had just started and the kid from TNA, AJ Styles and Roman Reigns had an interview and here is the World Champion (who looks like he is going to take Rock’s place eventually in the movies) and he’s a handsome kid with a lineage of drawing money that (The Samoan Family) I’ve always used Samoans and Tongans because they are great guys to be around and here they are booing that guy. But now here is AJ a guy who has got beat twice already against a part timer (and I love Jericho) and when they did the angle where his former friends came down and beat up Reigns and he said he didn’t know anything about it, this is wrestling either run and help the guy or run in and kick the shit out of the guys beating him. What is he Switzerland? Is he neutral? Then the next thing I knew they moved on to cartoons and talk shows that they were advertising on their network and maybe I was a little tired but I really couldn’t tell where the show ended, what was a commercial and what was the show.
WWE taking away the shine of matches and blurring the line of believability:
The matches don’t mean a thing but they give these guys six minuets with their entrances when these guys are terrific athletes. I’m not pissed off at anybody for it but, talk about giving away the secret of wrestling. It’s funny though, I just happen to see something on YouTube from 1953 with The Adventures Superman when it was on TV and the storyline was an Indian came in (to pro wrestling) and was a shooter and started to beat all the pro wrestlers in the show, so the wrestlers all got together and locked the Indian in a closet so he would miss the World Championship match. Well, Superman comes down and blows the doors open and the guy comes out and wins and at the end their is the stereotypical promoter with the big cigar hanging out of his mouth saying this is “real wrestling, I love it” and it’s 1953!
How can WWE turn the show around:
When the nWo was drawing up a lot of money and Steve Austin was drawing a lot of money they gave a performance of this is real and you got into it. You really got into their performance and it isn’t like they don’t know how to be successful that way, they’ve got the key to the library to watch those tapes. I put everything in an analogy to baseball. If I am a hitter and I am in a slump I can go back to ten years ago when my bat speed was good and I was hitting home runs. The key to how to turn this thing around is in their library and I don’t understand where they are going.
The magic of the Brian Pillman angle in 1996 blurring the line of shoot/stunt:
I don’t know what the real story was because Brian was working everybody. At one time he was getting paid by three different companies. He was getting paid by us (WCW), he was getting paid by ECW and WWE was giving Paul (Heyman)money to give him so his payoffs were bigger. Do I know what really happened? I don’t know if Brian was working me too. But I do know when he hit the ring, I did blast him and he left the ring. Did he do that because he didn’t want to go any further in the match and wanted to slip out still looking credible? Well he walked out and made a lot of money for a long time until he got into that horrible accident.
Even Eric Bischoff not knowing what Pillman’s motives were:
I’m in the ring with him and I’m not sure if he’s working me? He was supposed to come out and come back like he was being chastised. When he went to ECW we were still paying him because he had about three months left on his contract and everyday he was talking to Eric to renegotiate his contract and Paul was calling WWE and saying he was not sure if he was going back or not and even though he was under contract everyday the price went up. I’m still not sure what happened in that ring and only Brian would have been able to do that.
For the full 80 minute career retrospective interview with Kevin Sullivan please download this EPIC episode #175
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Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
